A HISTORY 

OF THE 

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 

Wiitl) m 3|ntroUuctton j]^arratmg 
THE DISCOVERY AND SETTLEMENT 

OF 

NORTH AMERICA 



BY 

HORACE E. SCUDDER 

Author of "A Short History of the United States of America 
FOR THE Use of Beginners" 



WITH MAPS. PORTRAITS. AND OTHER ILLUSTRATIONS 



NEW YORK • . • CINCINNATI . • CHICAGO 

AMERICAN BOOK COIVIPANY 



^l1^ 



s^ 



A 3 



LIBRARY of CONGRESS 

Two 6ople« Received 

J\N 19 1907 

/^Cowrlaht ERtry 
UOa^ /G>f9o7 

J (p & O I, 
COPYB.__ 



Copyright, 1S97, 1901, 
By HORACE E. SCUDDER. 



COPYKIGHT, 1907, 

By GRACE SCUDDERo 

E-P 1 



PREFACE. 



A DOZEN years ago I wrote a school history of the United 
States, and the test of its use has shown me wherein it was 
defective. My own study of history during the same period 
has furthermore enabled me to see how I could improve my 
original presentation of the subject. The present book is the 
result. The general structure remains the same as before; 
there is the same cleavage of periods, and the same interpreta- 
tion of cause and effect in the development of the Union. 
But the emphasis is somewhat differently placed, and a much 
greater attention has been paid to that element of personality 
which gives vitality to all history. By biographic detail and 
a liberal use of portraits I have sought to interest the student 
in the men who have been the architects of the nation. 

When I introduced my first book I said: "The secret of 
success in any history must lie in the power of the author to 
conceive the development of life, and to discover the critical 
passages, the transition periods, the great epochs. I hope I 
have helped young people to understand the movements which 
I see from the time when America was first disclosed to the 
eyes of Europe down to the present day. I wish to emphasize 
my sense of the importance to American children of connect- 
ing the history of their country with the changes which have 
been taking place in Europe during the period of our growth — 
changes of the utmost consequence in the development of our 
own national life, an understanding of which is essential to an 
intelligent reading of American history. Therefore I have 
never lost sight of the fact that down to the close of the last 
war with England, America faced the Atlantic j and any on© 

V 



vi PREFACE. 

who would read her history aright must often take his stand 
upon the European shore." 

But there are two other considerations whicli have grown to 
be still weightier in my mind during the past decade. One is 
the momentous importance of a clear conception in the minds 
of pupils in our schools to-day of the vital connection between 
the present and the past. The other is the equally important 
need of an interchange of acquaintance between the different 
parts of the nation. As the vigorous Scripture has it : " Now 
hath God set the members each one of them in the body, even 
as it pleased him. And if they were all one member, where 
were the body ? But now they are many members, but one 
body. And the eye cannot say to the hand, I have no need of 
thee ; or again, the head to the feet, I have no need of you." 
Therefore it has been of the greatest interest to me to try to 
give the students of American history in the East some notion 
of the great expansion of life in the West ; to give to Western 
students a clear intelligence of the beginnings of the nation in 
the East ; to reconcile the minds of the North and the South 
by a fair disclosure of the underlying conditions which led to 
the rupture, now happily closed ; above all, to show that insti- 
tutions of free government are not born in a day to be over- 
thrown in a night, but that they are the slowly developed 
results of struggle and toil and sacrifice, not to be lightly 
swept aside as if they were mere fashions of an hour. 

I have written in the thought that our country is a land 
"which was reserved until the new birth of Europe ; that it was 
peopled by men and women who crossed the seas in faith ; that 
its foundations have been laid deep in a divine order ; that the 
nation has been trusted with liberty. A trust carries with it 
grave duties; the enlargement of liberty and justice is in the 
victory of the people over the forces of evil. So I bid God- 
speed to all teachers of those who are to receive the trust of 

citizenship. 

H. K- ^, 

Cambridge, Ma8§, 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. 



Hints to Teachers 



Entiotiuctifln 

DISCOVERY AND SETTLEMENT OF NORTH AMERICA. 



CHAPTER 

I. 

II. 

III. 

IV. 

V. 

VI. 



XIII. 

XIV. 

XV. 

XVI. 

XVII. 



I. 


The 


II. 


Engl 


III. 


The 


IV. 


The 


V. 


The 


VI. 


The 


VII. 


The 


VIII. 


The 


IX. 


The 


X. 


The 


XL 


The 


XII. 


The 



Sfain and Amehr'a ..... 

The Natives of North America . 

The French, the Dutch, and the Swedes 

The English in America. I. 

The English in America. II. 

The Struggle for a Continent 



Book H. 
ESTABLISHMENT OF THE UNION. 
Thirteen English Colonies . 
.and and the colonies 
First Resistance .... 
Declaration of Independence 
War for Independence 
Confederation and the Constitution 
New Union ..... 
People of the United States 
United States and Europe 
Expansion of the Union 
United States entangled with Europe 
Second^ War for Independence 



Book M. 

DEVELOPMENT OF THE UNION. 
The Union and its Neighbors 
Internal Development .... 
The System of Slavery .... 
Administration of Andrew Jackson 
Texas and the Mexican War 



PAOE 
X 



1 

19 
26 
39 
69 

88 



103 
117 
130 
147 
158 
181 
190 
197 
209 
218 
224 
231 



241 

249 

258 
268 
277 



Vlll 



COiy TENTS 



ClIAPTKR 

XVIII. 

XIX. 

XX. 

XXI. 

XXIL 

XXIII. 

XXIV. 

XXV. 



Oregon and Califoknia . 
The MiDDLii of the (Jentury . 
The Approaching Conflict 

Secession 

The War for the Union. I. 

The War for the Union. II. 

Reconstruction 

After the Centennial Year . 



^ppcntiix. 



The Constitution of the United States 
Index ....... 



PAfJF. 

288 
297 
310 
318 
329 
346 
359 
370 



COLORED MAPS. 

PAGE 

Routes of Navigators to India and America in the Fifteenth and Six- 
teenth Centuries 11 

New Spain and the West Indies 15 

English and French Possessions in North America at the Time of the 

French and Indian War; also Colonial Charter Claims . . . 89 

New England and New Netherland 89 

The New England States daring the War for Independence . . . 139 

The Middle States during the War for Independence 159 

The Southern States during the War for Independence .... 171 

Territorial Acquisitions of the United States 221 

Mexico. — To illustrate the War, 1846-1848 277 ' 

To illustrate the War for the Union 329«/ 

Note. — Red indicates non-seceding Slave States. Pink indicates Free States. 

The United States of America 359 ^ 

Tne United States and its Outlying Possessions 391 , 



PORTRAITS. 



Adams, John 
Adams, John Quiney . 
Adams, Samuel 
Arthur, Chester Alan . 

Boone, Daniel, 
Bryant, William Cullen 
Buchanan, James . 
yBurke, Edmund . 

Calhoun, John Caldwell 
Calvert, Cecil 
Clay, Henry . 
Cleveland, Grover 
Columbus, Christopher 
Corn wal lis . 
^Custer, George Armstrong 

Davis, Jefferson . 
Drake, Sir Francis 

Edison, Thomas Alva . 
Emerson, Ralph WaLlo 
^Ericsson, John 

Farragut, David Glascoe 
Fillmore, Millard . 
Franklin, Benjamin 
^ Fulton, Robert 

Garfield, James Abram 
Grant, Ulysses Simpson 
(ireene, Nathanael 

Hamilton, Alexander . 
^Hancock, John 
Harrison, Benjamin 
Harrison, William Henry 
Hawthorne, Nathaniel 
Hayes, Rutherford Birchard 
Henry, Patrick 





i'Af;K 


Jackson, Andrew . 


. 245 


Jackson, Thomas Jonathan . ^342 


Jefferson, Thomas 


. 150 


Johnson, Andrew . 


. 3()1 


Jones, John Paul . 


. 173 


Lafayette 


. 15() 


Lee, Robert Edward . 


. ^43 


Lincoln, Abraham 


. 240 


Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth . 307 


McClellan, George Brintoi 


1 . . 331 


McKinley, William . 


. 385 


Madison, James . 


. 228 


Marshall, John 


. 192 


^eade, George Gordon 


. 348 


Monroe, James 


. 242 


,Morse, Samuel Finley Brt 


ese . 298 


Oglethorpe, James 


, . 85 


Penn, William 


. 71 


Pierce, Franklin . 


. 311 


Poe, Edgar Allan . 


. 304 


Polk, James Knox 


. 282 


Raleigh, Sir Walter 


. 42 


Roosevelt, Theodore . 


. 398 



Sherman, W^illiam Tecumseh 
Smith, John . 



Taylor, Zachary 
Tyler, John . 



Van Buren, Martin 
Vespucci, Amerigo 

Washington, George 
Webster, Daniel . 
Wliitney, Eli 
Winthrop, John , 



351 
47 

286 
281 

275 
13 

102 

273 

19<) 

54 



ix 



HINTS TO TEACHERS. 



The history of the United States may fairly be said to begin 
with the fall of Quebec, for just as soon as it was determined 
that the English were to be masters of the continent, the spirit 
of self-government began to assert itself, and agitation did not 
cease till the colonies were organized as States, and the States 
composed a Union. All that precedes the fall of Quebec, there- 
fore, is treated as Introduction to the history. 

The plan of the book is designed to help the student to 
a logical conception of the history of the country ; for one of 
the great advantages gained by the study of history is the 
strengthening of the logical faculty, — the practice of answer- 
ing the ivhys of events. Thus, following the Introduction 
which shows the ways leading up to the Union, there are two 
books, one devoted to the establishment of the Union which 
took place when the new nation was rendered finally inde- 
pendent of Europe, the other devoted to the development of 
the Union, a process still going on. Again, each book is 
divided into chapters, designed to group the great topics 
of the book, and each chapter is broken up into sections, 
representing the succession of topics ; under these sections 
there are sometimes given unnumbered sub-sections, indicated 
like the main ones by heavy-face type, and for convenience in 
seeing distinct statements, these sections are often broken up 
into paragraphs. 

It will be found of advantage to give to each part, to each 
subdivision, indeed, a thorough review before proceeding to 
the next. For this purpose a series of aids to the pupil has 
been provided. At the end of each chapter will be found 
questions covering the paragraphs in the chapter. They are 



HINTS TO TEAL' HERS. XI 

questions which cannot be answered by //e.s or no ; they require 
the pupil to know what he has studied, and very often to have 
thought carefully about what he has read. They do not 
exhaust the subject, — any skillful teacher can vary and mul- 
tiply questions indefinitely, — but they serve the purpose of 
enabling a pupil to try himself. The best questions are those 
which grow out of the recitations of a pupil, and the series 
given ill this book should be taken as containing rather sug- 
gestions than a hard and fast set of questions. It is advised 
that these questions on the text be not used by the teacher in 
hearing the recitation, but for purposes of review. Along with 
each of these series is another briefer series, to be used, as the 
title Search Questions implies, to quicken the student's inter- 
est in the period just studied. There are numberless byways 
which a school history cannot explore ; no history will answer 
all the questions which spring up in the mind of an intelligent 
reader, but the life of historical study consists first in master- 
ing the material placed before one, and then in pushing on, in 
exploring the territory laid open. These Search Questions are 
not idle conundrums, and they do not often refer to what may 
be called the mere curiosities of history ; but they are designed 
to start the student upon research, and upon using the books 
whose titles are jotted down at the foot of the page. 

It is important to bear in mind that a capital opportunity 
is afforded by the study of history for the cultivation of the 
faculty of expression. A word for word recitation of the 
chapter is not to be encouraged. It is a feat of the memory, 
and may be quite unattended by any real appropriation of the 
passage recited. But pupils should be encouraged to use, 
when they recite, finished sentences, and not be allowed in a 
careless fashion to fall into a broken, halting, ungrammatical 
way of tumbling out facts ; a scholar who recites in this loose 
manner will not really know what he is reciting half so well 
as when he has trained himself to frame neat, clear, and com- 
pact statements. For this reason, a teacher should not only 
make much of perfection of the spoken answer, but should use 



xii HINTS TO TEACnijRS. 

the history work as the basis of literary work. To aid the 
pupils, a number of subjects for composition and debate have 
been provided after each chapter. They are suggestions only, 
but they may serve to prompt other subjects also. Especially 
it would be well to call frequently for the writing of bio- 
graphical sketches. Outlines of leading facts have been given 
both in the text and footnotes, and by means of these, ency- 
clopedias, and regular biographies, very interesting studies of 
the lives of men of importance can be drawn up. 

The debates which are suggested afford an excellent oppor- 
tunity for training in expression, and for bringing out the 
knowledge of the debaters, and the accuracy of their informa- 
tion. It is a good plan to let two of the class act as leaders 
and choose sides just as in any game; then to give the two 
parties time to divide up the subject, and to work by them- 
selves over the treatment of it. During the debate, if careful 
rules are regarded, it should be a part of the game for the 
opposite side to ply the debater with questions. Debates con- 
ducted before the whole school not only train the debaters, but 
serve as an excellent quickener of the wits of those who listen. 

The study of civil government may be promoted by an 
organization of the school or class into a Debating Club with 
officers and a constitution. 

The maps, large and small, offer good opportunities for 
special examination and review. In reviews of this kind, it 
is not necessary to draw the map upon the board. Let the 
pupil have the map before him. By a little practice he will 
become very expert in the needed preparation for these special 
exercises. 

It may be a disappointment to some not to find the facts of 
this history regularly marshaled under the separate adminis- 
trations. There is no doubt an advantage in such an arrange- 
ment. It helps the memory by associating the succession of 
facts with successive quadrenniums, which in turn are named 
after the Presidents in their order. On the other hand, there 
is a degree of artificiality in such a disposition of history. 



HINTS TO TEA ('II Eli S. ■ xiii 

The changes in administration have been of conseqnence, some- 
times of great consequence ; but it is likely to give a mistaken 
notion of the relation of administrations to the development of 
the nation, to mislead one as to the true cause for the effects 
produced, when the incidents of the history are tixed by the 
law of association with certain persons at the time holding 
office. I have, therefore, while noting the administrations in 
turn, treated them as parts of the incident of history rather 
than as four-mile posts. But it would be a fresh exercise of a 
review order to call for a recital of historic facts under each 
administration. 

Finally, a word should be said of the use to which the copi- 
ous Index may be pnt. The familiar use of an index is to find 
the page readily where a person or an incident is treated; the 
history becomes a good book of reference when it is equipped 
with a good index. But there is a further use which so full 
an index as the one here given will serve. It brings together 
many scattered references to some one subject which is not 
treated once for all in a single passage, and it may be made 
the means thus of a further review. Suppose, for example, a 
pupil is writing a biographical sketch of a character in history. 
By reference to the index he will very likely find incidental 
references which otherwise might escape him. Or again, if 
one wished to trace the relations of France with this country, 
the entry under the general head of France would enable him 
to follow the thread from the fishermen of Brittany to Maxi- 
milian. 

Thus I have tried to make every part of the apparatus of 
the book reenforce the teacher in his effort to use this History 
as a work to instruct, to train, and to inspire the pupil in the 
acquisition of that great and important task, a knowledge of 
the nation in which he is a freeman and in whose destiny he 
has a part. 



PRONOUNCING VOCABULARY OF PROPER NAMES AND 
TECHNICAL TERMS IN CHAPTER I. 



Cristoforo Colombo (cies-tof'6-r6 
co-loin'bo. 

Christopher (cris'to-fer). The word 
means "Christ bearer." There 
is a legend of a strong man who 
carried the child Christ across a 
river, and thence was named 
Christopher. 

Azores (a-zorz'). 

La Rabida (la ra-be'da). 

Pinzon (pen-thon'). 

Palos (pa'los). 

Khan (kan). 

Moham'medans. The followers of 
Mohammed, or jVIahom'et, an 
Arabian religious leader and sol- 
dier (A.D. 570-632). 

Santa Maria (san'ta ma-re'a) = 
Holy Mary. 

Car'avel. 

Sargas'so. The Sargasso Sea lies be- 
tween latitude 16° and 38" north 
and longitude 30° and 50° west. 
It is a great floating mass of sea- 
weed drifting about the Atlantic. 

Bahama (bah-ha'ma). 

Hispanio'la = Little Spain. 

Don, from the Latin Domimis, 
"■ master " or " lord." The title 
in Spain now means scarcely more 
than " Mr." means among us. 

Coat-of-arms. The knights in the 
Middle Ages wore over their 
armor a coat embroidered with 
figures which denoted their fam- 
ily or estate. These coats are no 
longer worn, but the figures con- 
tinue to be used as signs of noble 
birth, and are called coats-of -arms. 



Veragua (va-ra'gwa). 

Amerigo Vespucci (a-ma-ree'go 
ves-puot'chee). His name in its 
Latin form, was Americus Vespu- 
cius. 

Strasbur g ( stras ' boon; ) . 

Vasco da Gama (da gii'ma). 

Toscanelli (tos-ca-nel'li). 

Juan Perez (wan pa'reth). 

Diego (de-a'go). 

Granada (gra-na'Da). 

Cipango (chT-pan'go). 

Behaim (ba'him). 

League (leg) = about three miles. 

Porto Rico (por'to re'ko). 

Ponce de Leon (ponss de lee'on'). 

Pascua Florida (pas'koo-a flor-ee'- 
tha). 

Balbd'a. 

Magellan (in Spanish pronuncia- 
tion, ma-hel-yan', but commonly 
pronounced in P^nglish, ma-jel'- 
lan). 

Yucatan (yoo-ka-tan'). 

Hernando Cortez (her-nan'do cor'- 
tez, Spanish kor-tas'). 

Vera Cruz (vn'ra kroos), meaning 
" true cross." 

Montezuma (mon-te-zoo'ma). 

Pizarro (pe-zar'ro). 

Fernando de Soto (fer-nan'-do da 
so 'to. 

Coronado (ko-ro-na'-r>o). 

Canon (kan'yun). A deep defile 
between steep walls or banks, 
usually with a stream flowing at 
the bottom. 

Zuiii (zoon'ye). 

Moqui (mo'ke). 



INTRODUCTION. 

DISCOVERY AND SETTLEMENT OP NORTH AMERICA. 



CHAPTER I. 

SPAIN AND AMERICA. 

1. Christopher Columbus. — In Genoa, Italy, somewhere be- 
tween 1436 and 1446,^ was born Cristoforo Colombo. His 
name was written Columbus in Latin, which was then the 
language used by all who read and wrote, and as Christopher 
Columbus he has been known ever since to English-speaking 
people. He left school when he was about fourteen, and was 
sent to sea to finish his education and to learn to command a 
vessel. Like those seamen of his time, who were more than 
common hands, he made a careful study of maps and charts, 
read the stories of travelers, and busied himself with questions 
as to the shape of the earth and its size. 

Learned men had long held the opinion that the world was 
a globe instead of being flat, as the common people and the 
more ignorant supposed. Columbus also believed it to be a 
globe ; he thought it, however, not perfectly round, but pear- 
shaped. He thought it, too, much smaller than it really is. 
By his study of charts and his talks with scholars he decided 
that if he were to sail due west from the Canary Islands, 
he would cross about four thousand miles of ocean and reach 
the eastern shore of Asia. In point of fact, that was not far 
from the distance to the Gulf of Mexico. 

1 The exact date is not known. 
B 1 



2 DISCOVERY AND SETTLEMENT. 

2. Why should he wish to go by Sea to Asia? — Nowadays our 
geographies give us abundant information about Asia ; on our 
maps, every river and mountain range and cape can be traced;' 
we know the cities and provinces and separate nations ; and we 
have books which tell us of the people, their mode of life and 
what they produce. It was not so in the time of Columbus. 
Asia was a vast, vague land, at the extreme east of which lay 
the countries which we now know as China, Japan and the East 
Indies, while the ocean flowed beyond.^ 

From these countries caravans came, bringing silk, pearls, 
precious stones, gold, silver, and spices, and Genoa and other 
Italian cities grew rich through commerce ; for their merchants 
sent ships to the eastern coast of the Mediterranean to trade 
with the Asiatics who had crossed the continent. But when 
Columbus was a boy, a great blow had been struck at this 
commerce. 

The Turks, who before had lived in western Asia, swarmed 
into Europe and captured the great city of Constanti- 
nople. They controlled now all the eastern part of 
the Mediterranean, and it became a perilous matter to send 
ships there. Thus it was of the greatest moment to find, 
if possible, some new route to the Indies. The Portuguese, 
under the lead of their prince, Henry the Navigator, had been 
slowly following the coast of Africa.^ 

3. The Struggle of Columbus to get a Hearing Columbus him- 
self went to Lisbon about 1470 and for a while carried on his 
business of map making there and sometimes went to sea with 
Portuguese captains. He knew therefore of the discoveries 



1 The book above all others which gave Columbus and the men of his time 
their notion of Asia was the famous adventures of Marco Polo, .written about 
1300. The Old South Leaflet, No. 32, contains Marco Polo's Account of Japan 
and Java. 

2 Prince Henry was filled with zeal for discovery. He built an astro- 
nomical observatory in the southernmost province of Portugal and devoted 
himself to study. From that point he directed a series of voyages from 1418 
to 1463, and after his death the work went forward, until in 1497 Vasco da 
Gama rounded the Cape of Good Hope and sailed to India. 



SPAIN AND AMERICA. 8 

along the African coast, but he was convinced that there must 
be a shorter route to Asia, and he was confirmed in this belief 
by the advice of a great geographer and map maker, Toscanelli, 
who sent him, in 1474, a map which showed a straight course 
across the Atlantic.^ 

It was one thing to believe in such a route ; it was quite 
another to follow it. Map makers could bring forward excel- 
lent arguments in support of their belief; but the only argu- 
ment really convincing was to take a vessel and sail across the 
ocean. Columbus was a poor man, and he must needs per- 
suade some one who had money to join him. For twenty years 
he carried his great purpose in his mind before he could bring 
it to pass. He tried in vain to persuade the magistrates of 
his native city of Genoa to join him. 

He laid his plans before the King of Portugal, who took 
counsel with learned men about him. These men publicly 
ridiculed Columbus as a crazy adventurer; but privately they 
told the king there might be some truth in what Columbus 
said, and the king was base enough to send out a vessel secretly, 
to get all the advantage there might be for himself. But it 
needed a Columbus to carry out the ideas of Columbus. The 
captain of the vessel sent out by the king put out from the 
Azores, but meeting a storm, he was frightened and turned 
back. Columbus heard of what was done and indignantly left 
Portugal. He bent his energies toward persuading Ferdinand 
and Isabella,^ King and Queen of Spain, to give him aid, and 
failing in that, he tried to bring some of the noble families 
to his side; through his brother Bartholomew he made an 
equally vain attempt to interest the English court. 

4. The Triumph of an Idea. — For seven long years he pushed 
his great enterprise. Poor, ridiculed as a madman, almost 
friendless, Columbus clung to his belief; and at last his faith 

1 The letters which Toscanelli wrote to Columbus at this time will be found 
in Fiske's Discover]/ of America, I. 35(5-362. 

2 The History of Ferdincmd and Isabella has been written by W. H. Pres- 
cott ; it is one of the most readable of American histories. 



SPAIN AND AMERICA. 5 

was rewarded. Here one and there one was convinced by his 
persistence and his undaunted confidence. His best friends 
were in the monastery of La Rabida, not far from the seaport 
of Palos. The story goes that when, worn out with his dis- 
appointments in Spain, he was about to set out for England, 
he stopped at the monastery with his son, a boy of eleven 
or twelve.^ Here he met the prior of the monastery, Juan 
Perez, who had been the father confessor of Queen Isabella. 

Perez became greatly interested, and sent to Palos for two 
men of importance : one was a physician who was very curious 
in geographical matters ; the other was a shipowner and cap- 
tain, Martin Pinzon. So deeply did Columbus impress them, 




La Rabida. 

that the prior set off to the camp of the Spanish armies, for 
Spain was then waging war with the Moors, who had long 
before come over into the Spanish peninsula from Africa. 
There he saw Isabella, and persuaded her to send money to 
Columbus and invite him to appear before her. 

5. The Queen of Spain is won over. — The queen and her 
counsellors were so convinced by the arguments of Columbus, 
that she promised to take up the matter in ea^rtiest just as 
soon as the Moors had been conquered. On the second day 
of January, 1492, the Moors surrendered Gra,nada,^ and Co- 
lumbus was summoned to the court. 

He went, but not as a suppliant. So filled was he with the 

1 This boy, Diego, afterward became page to Queen Isabella. 

2 One of Washington Irving's most captivating books is The Conquest of 
Granada. Irving was United States minister to Spain, and he wrote with 
the added charm of one who knew the country well. 



6 DISCOVERY AND SETTLEMENT. 

magnitude of his enterprise that he demanded great power and 
honor for himself. The king and queen turned away from this 
dreamer, and Columbus, once more baffled, mounted his mule 
and set off this time for France. But the friends of Columbus, 
who had influence at court, could not bear that Spain should 
lose the glory so nearly in her grasp. They redoubled their 
appeals to the queen, and she, moved by their zeal, sent a mes- 
senger after Columbus. She would herself bear a large part 
of the expense, and an agreement was made between this 
adventurer and the crown of Spain. 

This agreement is an interesting one, for it shows what was 
in the minds of those who made it. Columbus was to have 
for himself and heirs the office of admiral ; he was to be gov- 
ernor general over all the lands and continent he might dis- 
cover or acquire ; he was to reserve for himself one tenth of 
all pearls, precious stones, gold, silver, spices, and all other 
articles of merchandise obtained within his government; he 
might share in the expense of the enterprise with his sover- 
eigns to the extent of one eighth and receive one eighth of the 
profit. Add to this that the king and queen gave Columbus a 
royal letter to the Great Khan, a vaguely known potentate of 
Asia, and that Columbus was to devote the wealth gained to 
fitting out a new crusade for the rescue of the Holy Sepulcher,^ 
and it will be seen that this voyage of discovery was in the 
minds of all a great religious enterprise. 

The one eighth of the expense which Columbus was to bear 
was lent to him by the brothers Pinzon, who were of the 
greatest service ; for it was very difficult to find sailors ready 
to venture out into the Sea of Darkness, as they called the 
unknown Atlantic, and the Pinzons by taking command of 
two of the three vessels of the fleet gave courage to their 
townsmen. The Santa Maria, the largest of the three, was 
commanded by the Admiral, as Columbus was now called. It 
was only about sixty-three feet long, twenty feet broad at the 

1 For four hundred years the Christians of Europe had been engaged in an 
attempt to recover Jerusalem from the Mohammedans. 



SPAIN AND AMERICA. 7 

widest part, and ten feet deep; indeed, no one of the three 
was larger than a small coasting schooner. In the whole ex- 
pedition were ninety sailors and thirty gentlemen and priests, 
and provisions were carried for a year.^ 

6. The Sailing of the Fleet On the third day of August, 

1492, the fleet set sail from Palos and steered for the Canary 
Islands, which were under the control of Spain. By the map 
of Toscanelli, which Columbus is believed to have taken with 
him, if they sailed due west, on the 28th parallel of latitude, 




Copyrigiit by L. Fiaiig & Co. 

Fleet of Columbus. 

they would strike the northern end of Cipango, or Japan. 
One of the caravels, as the vessels were called, lost her 
rudder on the way, and the fleet remained in port a month 
for repairs. On the 6th of September, they left the Canary 
Islands and sailed westward over the unknown seas. 

Terrors of the Voyage. — Ten days later they entered the vast 
tract of seaweed which forms what is known as the Sargasso 
Sea. The sailors were terrified, for they thought they must be 

1 It is interesting to see just what was the fullest knowledge scholars had 
of the globe in the year when Columbus made his first voyage, and this can 
be seen by consulting the globe made by Martin Behaim, of Nuremberg, in 
1492. It is not impossible that Columbus met Behaim in Lisbon, 



8 



DISCOVERT AND SETTLEMENT. 



over a reef or in shoal water, but when the vessels sailed on 
without harm, they took fresh heart, and believed themselves 
to be near land. More trustworthy signs of land appeared. 
They caught a crab ; they saw birds, among them a pelican, 
which they thought never flew more than sixty miles from 
shore; there was drizzling rain without wind, and that, they 




The Ocean Side of Behaim's Globe made in 1492. Dotted Lines have been added to 
outline the Position of the then Undiscovered Western Continent. 



said, meant that land was near. Still they sailed on without 
coming to land. 

Then distant clouds looked like solid earth, but vanished as 
the vessels approached. The sailors, who had not the faith 
of Columbus, were dismayed by this wild voyage ; every day 
brought some new alarm or cause for despair; they were 
mocked by the signs of land, when yet there was no land. 



SPAIN AND AMERICA, 9 

So desperate did tlie men become, that they began to plot 

against Columbus ; and some went so far as to propose to 
throw him into the sea and return to Spain with the story 
that he had fallen overboard. But they feared that they had 
gone beyond the reach of any wind that could carry them 
back to their homes. Columbus used all his arts to govern 
the unruly sailors and discontented gentlemen. Sometimes he 
encouraged them with gentle words, telling them what great 
fame and riches would be theirs if they kept on, or what 
honor they would have in the Church. Sometimes he threat- 
ened them with the displeasure of the king if they disobeyed 
him.* 

7. The End of the Voyage — Five weeks, to a day, after 
leaving the Canary Islands there were unmistakable signs of 
land. A stick carved by hand was picked up from the water, 
and a branch with berries upon it. A reward in money had 
been offered to the first person who should see land, and all 
were now on the lookout. About ten o'clock at night, Colum- 
bus, standing on one of the castles ^ of his vessel, saw a light 
in the distance. The light moved, and he called two of his 
companions to see it. It may have been a light in a boat. 
Land was near and, at two in the morning, was seen in the 
moonlight by a sailor who was on the lookout in one of the 
other vessels. 

It was Friday, the twelfth day of October, 1492. Columbus, 
in a full suit of armor, carrying in his hand the royal banner 
of Spain, landed upon the island and planted the cross. He 
was attended by officers and gentlemen, and by many of the 
crew , and as soon as they touched the shore, they all fell upon 
their knees and with tears of joy gave thanks to Almighty 
God. 

1 Columbus feared that if his crew knew how far they were from the land 
they had left, they might become desperate and mutiny ; accordingly, he kept 
two reckonings: one true, for himself, the other a pretended one, which made 
the distance sailed each day less; this was for the officers and crew. 

2 The castle was a structure- like a raised deck, built at either end of the 
vessel. Heuce the term ** forecastle " in modern ships. 




Ohristopher GolninbTis. 



1 There are many portraits of Columbus, and they do not all 
agree in likeness. One of his companions has described him as tall 
and strong, with a fair, fresh complexion, and bright, piercing eyes. 
In later life, he had long, white, streaming hair, 




Intent Applied for 



A Map to Illustrate Routes of Navigators to 




Copyright, iS84, by Jacob WeUa 



Lla and America in the 15th and 16tli Centuries. 



SPAIN AND AMERICA. 



11 



Return to Spain. — The island which had then been found was 
one of the group known now as the Bahama Islands. Columbus 
embarking again passed other islands, coasted by Cuba, and 
came finally to Hayti, to which he gave the name of Hispaniola. 
He was quite sure that he had reached Japan, and after building 
a fort and leaving some men to hold it, he sailed with his fleet 
back to Spain, taking with him ten of the natives of the land, 
of whom six lived to reach Europe. He carried with him also 
some live parrots and some 
stuffed birds, a few pearls 
and trinkets of gold. He 
had not much to show, but 
the imagination of men made 
these things into signs of 
vast riches.^ At all events 
Columbus had actually found 
a straight course by sea to 
the Indies. 

He had left the kingdom 
like an adventurer; he was 
received now as a hero. The 
king and queen paid him 
great honor. They gave him 
the title of Don ; they granted 
him a coat-of-arms such as 
only very noble men were permitted to bear; he rode by the 
king's side ; he was served at table as a great man ; and when 
he desired to make a second voyage, every aid was given him. 
Columbus knew that he had thus far visited islands only ; but 
he thought that they were islands lying near the eastern coast 
of Asia. The name Indies was given to the coast ; and since 
these islands had been reached by sailing westward, they came 
to be spoken of as the West Indies, and the people found upon 
them were called Indians. 

1 Columbus's Letters to Gabriel Sanchez, deseribuig tlie First Voyage nnd 
Discovery, is printed iu No. o3 of Old South Leaflets. 




Coat-of-Arms of Columbus, 



12 DISCOVERY AND SETTLEMENT. 

8. The Fate of Columbus — Columbus made not only a second 
voyage, but a third and a fourth. For ten years he was en- 
gaged in exploring the islands, and even set foot on the shore 
of South America. He was convinced that he had not reached 
the mainland of Asia and looked for a strait where the Isth- 
mus of Panama is ; but all the time he was endeavoring also 
to find gold mines and to establish the government he had 
been promised. He made many enemies and once was sent 
back to Spain in fetters. He spent his last days in sickness 
and poverty and died in 1506.^ He never fully perceived how 
he had opened the way to a great continent, though some of 
the men of his time were persuaded of it; his own brother 
Bartholomew made a map, recently discovered, which clearly 
shows it. Columbus had the courage and faith and wisdom 
that carried him across the Atlantic, when others only dreamed 
of such a thing. The men who came after him reaped the 
reward he never gained. He did not even have the honor of 
leaving his name upon the new world. 

That honor fell to another explorer, Amerigo Vespucci, a 
Florentine, who sailed first in the employ of Spain and after- 
ward in that of Portugal. Vespucci made several voyages, 
including one which made known a large part of the Atlantic 
coast of South America, and wrote a letter containing an 
account of his discoveries.^ This letter, in 1507, the year 
after the death of Columbus, was printed at the printing press 
of a college near Strasburg; and the printer, who was a 
geographer, said in his preface : " And the fourth part of the 
world having been discovered by Americus, may well be 
called Amerige (that is, the land of Americus), or America." 
The name America was placed on maps of South America and 
printed in books, and finally was applied to all America. 

1 A descendant of Columbus, the Duke of Veragua, visited the United States 
at the time of the Columbian Exposition in Chicago. The most readable life 
of Columbus is that by Washington Irving: the most learned, and the one 
that brings to light the latest researches, is Winsoi-'s Christopher Columbus. 
A very interesting account may also be read in John Fiske's The Discovery 
qf America, 2 See Old South Leaflets, No. 34. 



SPAIN AND AMERICA. 



13 




Amerigo Vespucci. Born 1451 1 died 1512. 

9. The Line of Demarcation. — At the time when Columbus 
made his voyages, the great exploring nations of Europe were 
Spain and Portugal. Both countries recognized the pope as 
supreme, and to prevent them from quarreling over their dis- 
coveries, Pope Alexander VL decided in 1494 that there should 
be a " Line of Demarcation " drawn north and south on the 
map 100 leagues west of Cape Verde Islands, and that what- 
ever was found to the west of that line should belong to Spain ; 
whatever was found to the east should belong to Portugal. A 
treaty shortly after between Spain and Portugal made it 370 
leagues. By this agreement Brazil fell to the share of Portugal.' 

10. The Extension of Geographical Knowledge. — From the 
islands where the Spaniards established government they 

1 Brazil became independent of Portugal in 1822, when it became the 
Empire of Brazil ; the empire was overthrown in 1889 and a republic, the 
United States of Brazil, set up in 1891. 



14 DISCOVERY AND SETTLEMENT. 

made their way to the neighboring mainland. One of the 
governors of Porto Rico, Ponce de Leon, when making a 
voyage, touched the coast of the continent somewhere oppo- 
site the Bahamas. It was Easter Sunday when he first saw 

the land. The Spaniards call that day Pascua Florida, 
^ ' or " Flowery Easter " ; and so he named the country 

Florida. Like others, he was looking for what he 
had been told he should find in Asia, and his special desire 
was to find the fountain of youth, the waters of which made 
old men young again. 

Ponce de Leon was the first Spaniard, apparently, to land 
on the soil of what is now the United States, and that was 
twenty years after the first voyage of Columbus. There were 
two other men, near the same time, who did much to open the 
eyes of the world to the fact that America was not a part of 
the continent of Asia. One was Balboa, who was at the head 
of a company of men at Panama. The natives made out to tell 
him of another sea lying beyond the mountains, and he set 
forth with his men to find it. He fought his way through 
hostile tribes and at last saw before him a height from which, 
his Indian guides told him, he could look upon the sea. He 
bade his men remain behind, and went alone to the summit. 
There he stood and beheld the broad Pacific, the first man 
from Europe to see that sight.^ 

Something of the extent of this newly discovered ocean was 
learned when Magellan, a Portuguese captain in the service of 
Spain, boldly sought to follow the coast of South America, as 
others had followed that of Africa. He passed along the east- 
ern coast until he came to the strait now known by his name. 

He followed this strait and sailed upon the great 

ocean, crossing it and making his way to the East 
Indies. The islands in this archipelago had already been 
reached by Portuguese sailing eastward. This was the first 
time they had been reached by vessels sailing westward. 

1 There is a line in Keats's famous sonnet, "On first looking into Chap- 
man's Homer," which is drawn from this incident. 



SPAIN AND AMERICA. 15 

Mageflan himself was killed on one of the islands, but his 
companions kept on to Spain round the Cape of Good Hope. 
Thus men had at last sailed round the world. After this there 
was no longer any doubt that the world was a globe. 

11. The Conquest of Mexico. — The Spaniards, as they pushed 
their explorations about the Gulf of Mexico, were always on 
the lookout for gold and silver, and they expected to come 
upon great cities and powerful kings. It is but a short dis- 
tance from the western extremity of the island of Cuba to 
Yucatan upon the mainland. The first Spaniards who crossed 
the channel brought back word that they had found men 
dressed better than those on the islands, and living in buildings 
made of stone and mortar, and in every way more civilized. 

Cortez. — The governor of Cuba thereupon sent an explor- 
ing expedition under command of his secretary, Hernando Cor- 
tez, who sailed along the coast until he came to a 
favorable point, where he established a fortified camp, 
and named the place Vera Cruz. From this point he marched 
his army, less than five hundred in number, into the heart of 
Mexico. Sometimes he made friends of the natives; some- 
times he fought them. He got possession finally of the most 
important chieftain, Montezuma, and, after a short period, 
Mexico, with its rich mines, became a Spanish province. 

Pizarro. — Another Spaniard, Pizarro, conquered Peru, and all 
the western coast of South America, as well as Central America, 
came under the control of Spain. A great many Spaniards came 
over to America to make their fortunes in these countries.^ 

12. Discovery of the Mississippi by De Soto. — Meanwhile the 
attempt to get control of that part of the country bordering on 
the Gulf of Mexico now occupied by our Southern States was 
less successful. Fernando de Soto, a companion of Pizarro, 
determined to conquer Florida, as all this country was then 

1 Prescott's two books, The Conquest of Mexico and The Conquest of Peru, 
give brilliant accounts of the Spanish occupation. A novel, The Fair God, by 
General Lew Wallace, author of Ben Hur, states the traditions of Mexico 
under Montezuma. One of Henty's stories, also, By Right of Conquest, is 
based on Cortez's expedition. 



16 DISCOVERY AND SETTLEMENT. 

called, and set out with a great expedition. The march was a 
continual fight with savage tribes, and the arni}^ dwindled 
away, but De Soto pushed on until he came to a point 
not far from where the city of Memphis now stands; 
there he saw the great river Mississippi, which lay across his 
path. 

But nothing came at the time of this discovery. De Soto 
died and was buried in the river; the gaunt, famished rem- 
nant of his party straggled back to the coast.^ A later 
expedition headed by Coronado,^ has a special interest for 
Americans to-day, because it penetrated what is now New 
Mexico and Arizona; and the chronicle gives an account of 
the Grand Canon of the Colorado Eiver, and of the strange 
cliff dwellings of the Zuiii and Moqui Indians, half-civilized 
tribes that have remained with little change in the same region 
to this day.^ 

13. The Spaniards and the Native Americans The Spaniards 

thus had slight hold on the country which now forms our Gulf 
States, though they had made one small settlement in Florida, 

, Pjnp- of which the only remaining sign is St. Augustine ; 
but they were securely established in Mexico, Central 
America, the western part of South America, as well as in 
Cuba and other islands. By the force of a superior race, a 
comparatively small number of Europeans kept under their 
dominion the natives of these regions. The Indians submitted 
to the Spaniards, obeyed their laws, and adopted their religion. 
They tilled the ground, herded cattle, and worked in the mines. 
They were not slaves in name, and many laws were made to 
prevent them from being sold into slavery ; nevertheless they 
were in one form or other bound in service. 

1 See "The Death of De Soto," from the Narrative of a Gentleman of 
Elvas, in Old South Leaflets, No. 36. 

2 See Coronado's Journey to New Mexico and the Great Plains, 1540-42, 
No. 13 of American History Leaflets. 

3 A lively account of these Indians was written by Mr. Gushing, who lived 
long with them. It may be found in The Century Magazine for December, 
1882, February and May, 1883. 



8PA1JV AND AMEliWA, 




St. Angastine. 

Gradually the Spaniards in- 
termarried with the Indians, 
and the present race in Mex- 
ico, Central America, and 
South America is largely a 
mixed race. To-day, though 
Spain has lost all her posses- 
sions in the Western Continent, the Spanish lan- 
guage may be heard from the northern part of 
Mexico to the southern extremity of South America; and 
Spanish customs and laws, as well as the religion of Spain, 
mark the hold which Spain once held in the Western world. 



Spanish Coat-of- 
Arms. 



Old Grateway, 
Fort San Marco. 



QUESTIONS. 

What was the birthplace of Columbus? What was his occupation 
after he left school ? What did he and others of that time think of the 
shape and size of the world ? How did Columbus propose to reach Asia ? 
H.-w far off did he think Asia to be by water? What book gave the 
fullest account of Asia in early times? What two ways of going to 
c 



18 DISCOVERY ANi) SErfLEMENT. 

India by water were possible ? What nation took tlie lead in the route 
round Africa? Name the great Portuguese promoter of exploration. 
Who finally rounded the Cape of Good Hope ? Whom did Columbus 
seek to interest in his plan ? What trick was played upon Columbus 
in Portugal, and how did it turn out ? Tell the story of Columbus after 
he left Portugal. Who were the best friends of Columbus ? What were 
the terms of the contract between Ferdinand and Isabella and Columbus ? 
How did Columbus intend to use the wealth he should gain ? Describe 
the fleet of which Columbus was admiral. When did it sail, and where 
did it direct its course ? Point out on the map the location of the Sar- 
gasso Sea. What signs of land were seen ? How did Columbus encour- 
age his men? Describe the discovery of land, and the ceremony of 
taking possession. Describe his reception on his return to Spain. How 
many voyages did Columbus make ? Did he see the mainland of Amer- 
ica? What is the story connected with the naming of the New World? 
What was the Line of Demarcation ? What is the origin of the name 
Florida ? Relate the story of Balboa. When was the first voyage round 
the world made ? Who first of Europeans saw the Mississippi River, 
and at what point ? What is left to Spain of her American possessions ? 

SEARCH QUESTIONS. 

What is the meaning of the name Mediterranean Sea ? What great 
empire once controlled it wholly ? What is now the great Mediterranean 
of the world ? Columbus thought it four thousand miles from the west- 
ern coast of Europe to the eastern coast of Asia ; if there had been no 
American continent in the way, how far would it have been, sailing due 
west from Palos ? Is the Holy Sepulcher still in the hands of Moham- 
medans ? Mention some of the places and geographical points in America 
which owe their name to Columbus. Columbus looked for an opening in 
the Isthmus of Panama that he might push on to China and India ; how 
does the modern world hope to accomplish the same purpose ? 

SUGGESTIONS FOR LITERARY TREATMENT. 

Compositions : 

Boyhood days of Columbus. 

Influences that led Columbus to make his voyage. 

An imaginary letter from the sailor on the lookout. 

Debates : 

Besolved, That Columbus was justified in deceiving his companions 
Besolvedf That this continent should be called Columbia. 



CHAPTER II. 

THE NATIVES OF NORTH AMERICA. 



Pueblo (pweb'lo). 
Wigwam (wig' worn). 
Canoe (ka-noo'). 



Sa'chem. 

Mobilians (mo-bil'yanz). 

Palisade (pal-i-sad'). 



14. The more Civilized Peoples When the Spanish took 

possession of Mexico and Central America, they found a peo- 
ple more civilized than the natives of the West India islands ; 
they found also remains of a still earlier civilization. AV^e 
find to-day, in New Mexico and Arizona, a remnant of the 
more civilized race of Pueblo Indians^ in the Cliff Dwellers, 
who cultivate fields which they have learned to irrigate, and 
weave and make pottery which shows a sense of beauty. 

In the Mississippi Valley, and especially in the valley of the 
Ohio, are found to-day great mounds, some of them shaped like 
animals. There is one in Loudon, Adams County, Ohio, known 
as the Serpent Mound. ^ These mounds have been opened, and 
a great many domestic utensils and what are thought to be 
burial urns have been taken out.^ Ashes have been found in 
them, as if great fires had been built ; but w^hether these 
mounds were burial places, or places of worship^ or sites for 
rude houses, cannot always be known. At first there was a 

1 The Pueblo Indians lived in communities on the plains ; for defense they 
climbed to natural slielves along tlie sides of cliffs ; hence the name. 

2 This mound and the land about it constitute a park of seventy-five acres 
owned by the Peabody Museum, Cambridge, Mass. See a full account in 
The Century Magazine, March, April, 1890. 

3 Squier's Ancient Monuments of the Mississippi Valley, though printed 
many years ago, is the most satisfactory account in general of the mounds. 
See also Short's Americaiis of Antiquity, and The Mounds of the Afir.sissippi 
Valley, by Lucien Carr, Smithsonian Report for 1891. 

19 



20 



DISCOVERY AND SEl^TLEMENT. 



disposition to regard the people who built these mounds as a 
distinct race, but many scholars now regard them as the ances- 
tors of the tribes found by Europeans when they first visited the 
country between the Mississippi River and the Alleghanies. 

15. The Indians on the Atlantic Coast The Indians living 

between the Atlantic coast and the Mississippi Valley were 
cinnamon-colored, had high cheek bones, long, coarse, black 




The So-called House of the Dwarf.^ 

hair, and small, black eyes. They lived upon the fruit they 
found, the fish they caught, the animals they killed; some 

1 This is one of a great many buildings, tbe ruins of which riiay be seen to- 
day in Yucatan and Honduras, often in the depths of forests and overgrown 
with vegetation. Like a number, it is a temple crowning a pyramid. This 
pyramid has a very steep slope, about one hundred feet in height, and is 
reached by a succession of steps. The temple, which is richly ornamented, 
consists of two parts, one reared on the summit, the other looking like a 
chapel lower down. The cut is taken from Charnay's Ancient Cities of the 
New World, a book which describes the ruins in Central America as seen in 
1880. See also Short's Americans of Antiquity. 



THE NATIVES OF NOBTH AMERICA. 



21 




Various Scenes in Indian Life : Cliff Dwelling. — War Dance. — Exposure of the 
Dead. — Travel by Water. - Chief s Head. 

lived upon maize or Indian corn which they planted. If every- 
thing else failed, they could dig roots and eat them. They 
did not look forward very far, however, so that there were 
times when they suffered severely from want of food. 



22 



DISCOVERT AND SETTLEMENT. 



They used bows and arrows in hunting. The arrows had flint 
heads, and their hatchets were made out of flint. They cooked 
their food by roasting it over a fire, or stewing it in unglazed 
earthenware pots. But since these pots would have been 
cracked in a fire, they heated the water by putting in red- 
hot stones. They wore as little clothing as they could in 
warm weather, and when winter came, they dressed them- 
selves in skins from the animals which they killed. On great 
occasions they used ornaments of claws and feathers. When 
they went to war, they smeared themselves with colored clay. 
Their houses were made by driving poles into the ground in 
a circle and drawing their tops together. Then they covered 
the poles with bark or skins, and the wigwam, as it was called, 
was finished. Inside there was a hole in the ground for a 
fire ; and the family slept on skins or bushes. The. women, 
who were called squaws, did the work, not only of cooking, 
but of planting the corn and gathering it, of dressing the skins, 
and of making the wigwams. They bore the burdens when 
moving from one place to another. Until Europeans came, 
there were no horses in the country. 

The Buffalo. — As the game upon which they depended moved 
about the country, so the Indians roved in search of it. . The 

buffalo was an animal every 
part of which the Indian used. 
He cooked or dried the flesh, 
for food. He tanned or other- 
wise dressed the skin and used 
it for his bed, and he cut it up 
for ropes and cords. The mar- 
row served for fat. The sinews 
made bowstrings. The hair was 
twisted into ropes and halters, 
and spun and woven into a coarse cloth; the bones made war 
clubs, and the shoulder blades were used for hoes. They made 
canoes from the bark of trees, and paddled along the rivers 
and lakes. By looking at a map which has no State lines 




Buffalo. 



THE NATIVES OF NORTH AMERICA. 23 

upon it, one can see what a network of waterways covers the 
country now occupied by tlie United States. 

Their Country. — Living thus out of doors, the Indians learned 
the ways of bird and beast. They became swift of foot, quick of 
eye, cunning and ready. They learned to endure hardships ; to 
go a long while without food. They could find their way through 
the woods by signs which white people never saw. They had 
names for all the places which they visited. Every waterfall, 
river, lake, mountain, valley, and cape was named by them, and 
very many of these names were taken up by white settlers 
and remain to this day. Some of the names of our States are 
Indian names. A number of Indians living together and hunt- 
ing together formed a tribe, and these tribes had their own 
names. Each tribe had a sachem, who was chief; and the 
right to be chief often continued in the same family. But if 
a sachem lost the respect of the tribe, the warriors would 
choose another, who was usually one of his relatives. 

16. The Main Groups of Indians. — There were three principal 
groups of Indian tribes east of the Mississippi. In the north 
the most powerful were those which went by the name of the 
Iroquois. They were made up of distinct tribes, at first five, 
afterward six, banded together in a league, with laws and gov- 
ernment.^ 

The Iroquois had their home within the borders of what 
is now the State of New York, but they also drove out the 
tribes living in the region south of Lakes Erie and Ontario, 
and on the peninsula east of Lake Huron. The Algonquins, 
the other great northern group, covered nearly all the rest of 
the country east of the Mississippi and north of what is now 
North Carolina. In the south were the Mobilians, comprising 
Creeks, Choctaws, and Chickasaws. These various groups had 
each its own language and customs. War was constantly car- 
ried on between the Iroquois and the Algonquins. They did 
not meet each other in the open field. The Indian mode of 

1 For this reason they are sometimos called the Five Nations or the Six 
Nations. 



24 DISCOVERY AND SETTLEMENT. 

warfare was to steal through the woods and come suddenly at 
night upon a camp of the enemy. 

17. The Traits in Common Though the tribes differed from 

one another, all the Indians were in some points alike. They 
were brave, but they were also treacherous. They never for- 
gave an injury. They could bear hunger and torture in silence, 
but they were cruel in the treatment of their captives. They 
were a silent race, but often in their councils some of their 
number would be very eloquent. They had many legends 
about the world in which they lived, and they believed in 
spirits who lived around them in the water and the air. In 
each tribe there were "medicine men" so called, who were 
regarded as magicians. The brave Indian believed that after 
death he would go to the Happy Hunting Grounds. It is not 
possible to say how many Indians there were when Europeans 
first came to this continent. It is supposed that, through wars 
with one another and with the whites, the race has been fast 
disappearing; but it is known that during the past thirty 
years the number has increased.^ 

1 A comprehensive book on the Indians is The Red Man and the White 
Man, by George E. Ellis. Parkman's The Oregon Trail gives an interesting 
account of his life among the Indians. The best stories in which Indians 
figure largely are Cooper's Leather stocking Tales. The most famous poem 
relating to the Indians is Longfellow's Hiawatha. 

QUESTIONS. 

Name the three classes of natives who have left monuments or other 
signs of partial civilization. What was the appearance of the Indians 
on the Atlantic coast ? What was their food ? How were they housed ? 
Describe the uses to which the buffalo was put ? What was their mode 
of life ? Describe the tribal life. Locate the Iroquois ; the Algorxquins ; 
the Creeks, Choctaws, and Chickasaws. What were their religious 
ideas ? Name some of the characteristics of the race. 

SEARCH QUESTIONS. 

Name some of the more considerable mounds. Name the rivers, 
mountains, lakes, and towns in your State which have Indian names. 



THE NATIVES OF NORTH AMERICA. 25 

• 
Where are some of the tribes named in this chapter still to be found ? 
Name some poems with Indian characters. Which of the States have 
Indian names ? 

SUGGESTIONS FOR LITERARY TREATMENT. 

Compositions : 

An account of explorations in Central America. 

An account of the Zunis. 

Description of a mound. 

The story of an Indian from childhood till he becomes a warrior. 

An account of some Indians I once saw. 

Indian characteristics gathered from Hiawatha. 

Debates : 

Resolved., That the Indian was better off before the white man came 
to America. 

Resolved, That Indian names are better for places in America than 
European names. 

Resolved, That the mound builders were identical with the American 
Indians. 

Resolved, That the settlers were justified in taking the land from the 
Indians without paying for it. 

Resolved, That the Indian can be civilized. 



CHAPTER III. 



THE FRENCH, THE DUTCH, AND THE SWEDES. 



Newfoundland (nu'fund-land'). 
The name was first applied to 
all the countries in the northeast 
discovered by the first English 
voyagers, but afterward was used 
only for the island which con- 
tinues to be so called. 

Nova Scotia (no'va sko'shia) was 
so named, later, because of Scotch 
settlers. The words are Latin for 
New Scotland. 

Banks. Shoals in the sea, near the 
coast. 

Breton (bret'on). 

Verrazano (ver-ra-tsa'no). 

Labrador (lab'ra-dor). 

Jacques Cartier (zhak kar-tya'). 

Chaleur (sha-loor'). From a 
French word meaning "heat." 

Neth'erlands. Originally both Hol- 
land and Belgium. The name 
signified "lowlands." 

Huguenot (hii'ge-not). 

Champlain (sham-plan'). 

DeMonts (deh mon'). 

Acadie (a-ka-de'). The English 
form is Aca'dia. The Indian 
form from which the name is 
derived appears in the ending 
qiioddy, a kind of fish, — as Pas- 
samaquoddy. 



St. Croix (saut kroi'). 

Port Roy'al. The king's harbor. 

Ignatius Loyola (ig-na'shus loi-o 
la), 1491-1566. 

Iroquois (ir-6-kwoi'). 

Ottawa (6t'ta-wa). 

Jean Nicolet (zhan ne-ko-la'). 

Joliet. The town in Illinois named 
from the explorer has been angli- 
cized to Jo'le-et. 

Marquette (mar-kef)'. 

Arkansas (ar'kan-sa'). 

Kaskaskia (kas-kas'ki-a). 

Chevalier de la Salle (shev'a-ler' 
deh la sal'). The title chevalier 
corresponds in general to the 
English "knight," and means, 
literally, a rider of horses. 

La Chine (la shen', China). 

Hennepin (hen'e-pin). 

Miami (mi-am'i). 

Louis (loo-ee'). But the English 
form "Lewis," is frequently 
used. 

D'Iberville (de-ber-veel'). 

Holland is a short form of " Hollow 
land," or "low land." 

Henry Hudson. The Dutch called 
him Hendrik Hudson. 

Minuit (min'ne-wit). 

Christina (kris-te'na). 



18. The Breton Fishermen make their Way to America While 

the Spaniards were taking possession of the central and south- 
ern parts of America, other European peoples were making 



THE FRENCH, THE DUTCH, AND THE SWEDES. 27 

acquaintance witli the more northern parts. At this time, by the 
rules of the Church, nearly one third of the days in the year 
were fast days, on which no meat could be eaten ; and in conse- 
quence the fisheries had become of great importance. On both 
sides of the English Channel, and on the western coast of France, 
a large part of the population was engaged in this business. 
The fishing grounds near at hand became so exhausted that the 
hardy fishermen ventured farther each year, until at last they 
came to the coasts of Newfoundland and Nova Scotia and 
fished on the Banks, which still furnish a yearly harvest to 
thousands of fishermen; but they troubled themselves very 
little about the land that lay near. 

A few captains, indeed, explored the coast. Cape Breton 
owes its name to the fishermen from the Breton country in 
France. When the French king resolved to have a share in 
the New AYorld, these fishermen became his best helpers. The 
explorers whom he sent out naturally gathered their crews in 
the Breton ports, and found that the men already knew some- 
thing of the coast. 

19. The Voyages of Verrazano and Cartier Verrazano, an 

Italian sailor, was sent out by Francis I., King of France. He 
reached the American coast near what is now called Cape 
Fear, and cruised northward, visiting probably the 
bay of New York and Narragansett Bay.^ Like other 
explorers, he was searching for a passage to India. His 
voyage convinced him that the land which he had visited 
was a part of a great continent; and when he took into ac- 
count the southern voyages of the Spaniards and Portuguese, 
he came to the belief that a short passage to India was im- 
possible, since there must be land all the way from the Strait 
of Magellan to Labrador. 

Cartier. — The French were eager to know more of the new 
country, but wars followed, and it was ten years before the king 
took further action. Then he sent two ships to America under 

1 Vei-razano's Voyage is the title of No. 17 of Old South Leaflets. It is a 
translation of his account. 



28 



DISCOVERY AND SETTLEMENT, 



the command of Jacques Cartier, to make further explorations, 
and still, if possible, to find a way to India. Cartier cruised 
about the Gulf of St. Lawrence, to which he gave that 
name. He entered a bay, which, on account of the 
heat, he named the Bay of Chaleur. There he landed and 
took possession of the country in the name of the King of 
France. This ceremony consisted in setting up a cross and 
fastening upon it the king's coat-of-arms. The next year he 



VC" ^ 1 










/<A 



St. Lawrence River and Gulf. 

returned and sailed up the St. Lawrence, saw the great rock 
on which Quebec now stands, and pushed on as far as to where 
is now the city of Montreal. 

20. Champlain's Discoveries An attempt was made by the 

Huguenots, as those Frenchmen were called who rebelled 
against the authority of the Pope, to make a settlement in 
Florida, but it failed, and the seat of the most active French 
enterprise was upon the borders of the Gulf of St. Lawrence. 
Cartier had taken possession of the country in the name of 



THE FRENCH, THE DUTCH, AND THE SWEDES. 29 



the King of France, but its real occupation was by the hardy 
men who fished in the waters of the Gulf, and sometimes 
carried back to Europe furs and skins which they obtained 
from the natives. The fur trade at 
last began to tempt adventurers and 
explorers. The greatest of these ex- 
plorers was a French gentleman, Sam- 
uel de Champlain, who made his first 
voyage to Canada in 1603. He as- 
cended the St. Lawrence River as far 
as the site of Montreal, and carried 
back to France maps of the country 
which he had seen, and many inter- 
esting notes concerning the people, 
animals, and plants. 

Acadie. — The next year a Huguenot, 
De Monts, who was in favor at court, 
received authority to plant a colony in 
Acadie, the name given to the country 
claimed by the French, extend- 
ing from the Delaware E-iver 
to the St. Lawrence. De Monts took 
Champlain with him, and established 
a fur-trading post on an island at the 
mouth of the St. Croix River, but after- 
wards removed it across the Bay of 
Fundy to the Annapolis Basin and 
named the place Port Royal. (See 
map, p. 94.) 

Champlain was persuaded that the 
banks of the river St. Lawrence offered the best site for a colony, 
and four years later he ascended the river again and 
founded Quebec, which became the center of trade, of 
missions, and of military operations. From this point he made 
bold excursions into the wilderness. The most important of 
his associates were not soldiers or fur traders, but priests. 



1604. 




Explorations of Champlain 
and Hudson. 



1608. 



30 DISCOVERY AND SETTLEMENT, 

21. The Jesuits. — During the religious conflicts which had 
stirred Europe, a Spanish soldier, Ignatius Loyola, had founded 
the Society of Jesus, or Jesuits, who claimed to be special 
champions of the Pope. They were like soldiers in an army, 
bound to one another and to their officers by the strictest rules 
and by loyalty to their order. The Jesuits had more than a 
military courage and zeal. They were missionaries of the 
faith, and were among the first to plunge into the wilderness 
of Canada. They went there to convert the savage Indian, 
and endured hardships which no common soldier would have 
had the courage to meet.' 

22. The French in their Relation with the Indians The 

Indian of the north was a stern, silent man, who knew the 
rigors of a northern winter, and the perils of the wilderness. 
His highest idea of courage was to suffer without complaining. 
When, therefore, the Jesuits and other priests came without 
weapons, shared the life of the Indians, and were ready to go 
beyond their bravest men in endurance, the Indians learned to 
respect the newcomers, and in many cases to submit to them 
and accept the religion which they taught. The French sol- 
diers also were willing to live much as the Indians did, and 
thus easily made friends with them. The Indian tribes were 
often at war with one another ; and the French, by taking sides 
with a tribe and going with it to fight its enemies, won it over 
to strong friendship. 

The most powerful people were the Iroquois. On the north- 
ern lakes and on the Ottawa River were their bitter enemies, 
the Hurons and Algonquins, and these persuaded Champlain 
to join them in an attack upon the Iroquois. Cham- 
' plain, like other explorers of his day, was bent on 
finding a way to China ; and since the tribes at war with the 
Iroquois could be of most service to him, he formed an alliance 

1 Parkman's Pioneers of France in the New World and The Jesuits in North 
America give very interesting accounts of these early French enterprises. 
The Jesuits sent home letters detailing their experiences. These Relations, as 
they were called, have been translated and published in a series of volumes. 



THE FRENCH, THE DUTCH, AND THE SWEDES. 31 

with them. He gained a victory over the Iroquois, which 
made them lasting enemies of the French, but he returned after 
discovering the lake which bears his name. 

23. Exploration of the Great West. — The St. Lawrence af- 
forded a way into the interior, and as early as 1615 Cham- 
plain reached Lake Huron with the flag of France ; and on the 
map which he drew, is shown in the vague region beyond, the 
home of a peojDle whom he describes as "a nation where there 
is a quantity of buffalo." This land was the great prairie 
where were villages of the Illinois tribe of Indians. As gov- 
ernor of New France, he sent his interpreter, Jean Nicolet, in 
1631 on a tour of exploration, and Nicolet set foot on what is 
now the soil of Michigan and also penetrated Green Bay in 
Wisconsin. Champlain died shortly after, and no great leader 
of the French took advantage of Nicolet's report. 

Joliet and Marquette. — It w^as not till 1672 that Louis Joliet, 
born and bred at Quebec and familiar with the Great Lakes, 
was sent out to discover the mouth of the great river of which 
many reports had come from the Indians. Tliis was the Mis- 
sissippi, and no one knew whether it flowed into the South Sea, 
as the Pacific Ocean was called, the Gulf of California, or the 
Gulf of Mexico. Joliet's companion was the priest Marquette. 

They descended the Wisconsin River, already know^n, to the 
Mississippi, visited some Illinois villages, and kept on as far 
as the mouth of the Arkansas Eiver. Then fearing to fall into 
the hands of the Spaniards, they returned, and leaving the 
Mississippi at the Illinois Kiver, ascended that river, and at 
last reached Lake Michigan. They had made it clear that the 
Mississippi flowed into the Gulf of Mexico. Marquette after- 
ward established a mission amongst the Illinois Indians at 
Kaskaskia, and spent a winter within the limits of the present 
city of Chicago.! 

1 In Marquette's journal of the winter of 1674-75, the name of an impor- 
tant Indian is preserved in Chacliagou-ession, a man mucli esteemed, he says, 
partly because he concerned himself with trade. It is suj^posed that the name 
" Chicago " was adopted from this name. 



82 DISCOVERY AND SETTLEMENT, 

24. La Salle and his Adventures. — Thus the discoverer and 
the missionary were the pioneers in pushing forward the boun- 
daries of New France, and they were followed by men who more 
distinctly took possession of the new lands in the name of the 
King of France. Chiefest of these was the Chevalier de la Salle. 
He came out to Canada to seek his fortune, and was 
granted a tract of land a few miles beyond Montreal. 
There he gathered men about him, and made a fortified settle- 
ment, as a center of the fur trade. The name given to the 
place. La Chine, shows what was on La Salle's mind ; he was 
filled with a desire to find the South Sea, and he proposed to 
conquer the country on the way and bring it under the sover- 
eignty of France. 

La Salle built a strongly fortified post on Lake Ontario, 
near the present town of Kingston. This was to be the start- 
ing point of his expeditions ; and from here, in 1678, he made 
the first of a series of journeys which lasted nearly ten years. 
One of the parties sent out by him, a friar, Louis Hennepin, 
was the first to see and describe the Falls of Niagara. La 
Salle built vessels and explored Lakes Erie, Huron, and Michi- 
gan. He built forts on Lake Ontario, on Niagara River, and on 
the Illinois River where Peoria now stands, meaning by the 
chain of forts to hold the land for France. 

The Mississippi Valley taken Possession of for France. — At 
last La Salle made the great journey for which he had been 
planning. With a party of Frenchmen and Indians * he set out 
from Fort Miami, on the Maumee River. He carried 
his canoes from stream to stream, until he reached 
the Mississippi and floated down its current. He passed from 
winter into spring, and at every stage of his progress he felt 
his great dreams to be turning into realities. He came among 
people who had never seen a white man. Everywhere he took 

1 It is an interesting fact that these Indians were mainly Mohicans whc 
had been driven west by the results of King Philip's War (see Section 48, 
below) , and that it was New England Indians who thus voyaged with him to 
the Gulf of Mexico. 



THE FRENCH, THE DUTCH, AND THE SWEDES. 33 

possession of the country in the name of Louis XIV., King of 

France, while the Indians looked on in ignorant wonder. 

Louisiana. — Upon the marshy borders of the Delta, La Salle 

formally claimed for his master the vast territory drained by 

the Mississippi and its tributaries, and named it Louisiana. It 

was now the king's by title, and he meant to make it 

1682 
the actual property of France. He retraced his course, 

and laid plans for a fortified settlement upon a great rock on 

the Illinois River. Here he meant to have a trading post, and 

a defense against hostile Indians. It was to be one of the links 

in a great chain of fortified posts between the Lakes and the 

Gulf. He named the place Fort St. Louis, but it is now known 

as Starved Rock. 

La Salle returns to France. — He hastened back to France, 
where his wonderful journey made him a hero. A man who 
could add an empire to France was not likely to be denied 
what he asked for. With two great rivers under their control, 
the St. Lawrence and the Mississippi, the French would have 
the whole vast interior of the continent in their hands. When, 
therefore. La Salle laid before the king his wish to build a fort 
at the mouth of the Mississippi, and establish a colony there, 
the king at once aided him and placed four ships under his 
command. The king was more ready to do this because he 
was at war with Spain, and hoped by this means to attack the 
Spanish possessions in America. 

The Failure of La Salle's Plans. — The expedition sailed with 
great expectations, but failed miserably, and La Salle 
himself was treacherously killed, when trying to 
make his way to Canada. His discoveries, however, led the 
French to send out an expedition under D'Iberville, 
and to make a settlement near the mouth of the 
Mississippi. A communication was kept up with Canada by 
means of the great river. Military posts were planted at 
intervals along the way. There were settlements about them, 
to which the Indians came to trade. At each, also, was a mis- 
sion of the Church. Indeed, the priest often came before the 



34 DISCOVERY AND SETTLEMENT, 

soldier, and the mission house and chapel rose before the 
barracks.^ 

25. The Dutch in Holland While the French were thus 

finding their way into the interior of the continent, by means 
of the great rivers and lakes, another European people were 
also taking advantage of a water highway. The Netherlands 
had revolted from Spanish rule and established a vigorous 
Protestant state, known as the Dutch Republic. The land 

which it occupied, now called Holland, was protected 
' from the ocean by great dikes, and crossed by a net- 
work of canals which connected with arms of the sea and with 
navigable rivers. The land lying between the canals was very 
rich, and was cultivated with great industry; the canals were 
the roadways for boats which plied between different parts of the 
country, and made all the towns busy with trade and commerce.^ 
Dutch Enterprise. — The Dutch were also famous fishermen. 
Their vessels swarmed about the coast and in the North Sea; 
and, since this sea was a dangerous one, the Dutch sailors became 
brave and daring, skillful in managing their vessels and in act- 
ing as pilots. They were the merchants for all the neighboring 
countries, carrying their vessels into the ports and rivers of 
Europe, and sending out fleets to the East Indies, whence they 
brought back spices and other products of the tropics. Their 
enterprise and courage made the Dutch, with their little terri- 
tory, able to resist the power of the great kingdom of Spain. 

26. Henry Hudson and the New Netherland Company. — In con- 
sequence of this trade and industry, great cities sprang up in 
Holland. The merchants formed companies, the better to 
carry on their trade ; of these one of the most important was 
the East India Company, which was very anxious to find a 

1 See Parkman's La Salle and the Discovery of the Great West. Nos. 5 
and 6 of Historical Classic Readings are very pertinent here. 

2 A useful little book, and one which gives an idea of the Dutch connection 
with America, is Brave Little Holland, and xohat she has taught us, by W. E. 
Griffis. A most interesting picture of life in Holland is to be found in Mrs. 
Dodge's bright story, Hans Brinker, or the Silver Skates, as also in her later 
book, The Land of Pluck. 



TBt: FHENCTI, THE DUTCH, AND THE SWEDES. 35 

shorter route to the East Indies than by the long and perilous 
passage round the Cape of Good Hope. In 1609 they engaged 
an English captain, Henry Hudson, to find such a passage. 
He first tried the northeastern route ; but when he was blocked 
by the ice, he turned back, and determined to find some open- 
ing in the land which lay to the west. 

Hudson ascends the North River. — He crossed the Atlantic, 
and came upon the opening which is now the harbor of New 
York- He discovered the great river flowing into it, and sailed 
slowly up its stream in his ship, the Half Moon. He went to 
the head of navigation, and then sent out parties to explore. 
They returned with reports which showed that the river les- 
sened as they went up higher, and he sailed down the river 
again, crossed the Atlantic and entered an English port. 

Hudson sent to the East India Company at Amsterdam an 
account of what he had discovered ; but the English would not 
let him return to Holland. He sailed again the next year for 
an English company, and discovered a great bay in the frozen 
north. The river and the bay both bear his name, though the 
river has also always been known as the North River. 

First Dutch Settlements. — The East India Company was dis- 
appointed that Hudson had not found a new route to India, and 
paid little attention to his discovery of a great river and a noble 
country. Some Amsterdam merchants, however, saw an oppor- 
tunity for trade, and sent out vessels to obtain furs, a com- 
modity very much in demand in the cold northern countries of 
Europe. The traders established themselves at the mouth of 
the Hudson River, on the island which was called by the 
Indians Manhattan. 

They made explorations up and down the coast, and soon 
found how rich the country was, and how easy it was to obtain 
valuable furs in exchange for a few paltry trinkets. 
A company was formed, called the New Netherland .,„,q~ 
Company, which had the sole right for three years 
to occupy this territory and trade there. It erected forts on 
Manhattan Island, and on the site of Albany, then called 



§6 



DISCOVERY AND SETTLEMENT. 



Fort Orange,^ and gave the name of New Netherland to the 
country.^ 

27. The West India Company When the rights of the com- 
pany ceased; a new and more powerful company was formed 
in Holland in 1621, called the West India Company, with full 
control of New Netherland. It was a trading company like 

the others, but it was intended also to 
dispute the Spanish power in America. 
The Dutch captains, like the English, 
found a profitable business in capturing 
Spanish vessels. The West India Com- 
pany encouraged people to settle on its 
lands ; it explored the North Kiver and 
the South Eiver, now known as the 
Delaware ; and villages grew up about 
Fort Orange, and at New Amsterdam, 
as the Dutch called the settlement on 
Manhattan Island. 

Patroons. — In order to induce men to 
occupy New Netherland, the company 
gave to any of its members who should 
buy land of the Indians, and form a col- 
ony of fifty persons, the right 
to almost absolute power over 
land and colonists. These owners were 
called patroons, and they acquired very 

large estates. The patroons sent out farmers, cattle, and tools. 

They established trading posts also on the Connecticut, as w^ell 

as on the North and South rivers. 

28. New Sweden. — The Dutch and the Swedes had much in 
common, especially in their religion, for they were both strong 
Protestant countries ; and after some unsuccessful attempts on 
the part of Sweden to plant colonies in America, a Swedish- 




1623. 



Flag of the Dutch West 
India Company, 



1 The Dutch pronounced this name somewhat like Aurania. 

2 In Higginson's Young Folks' Series, No. 7, is Henry Hudson and the New 
Netherlands. 



THE FRENCH, THE DUTCH, AND THE SWEDES. 37 

Dutch trading company was formed. Peter Miniiit, who had 
been prominent in New Amsterdam, v/as the leader of a colony 
which reached the shores of the Delaware River in the spring 
of 1638. 

The colonists purchased land of the Indians on the west 
bank of the river and built a fort near the site of the present 
city of Wilmington, Delaware, which they named Fort Chris- 
tina, after the Queen of Sweden.^ The queen and her coun- 
sellors determined to make the colony more distinctly Swedish. 
Emigration was encouraged, the Dutch interest was bought 
out, and active measures were taken to make a flourishing 
settlement. 

The Dutch invade New Sweden. — At first the relations be- 
tween the Swedes and the Dutch of New Netherland were 
friendly, but as years went by the Dutch were unwilling to 
see their settlements on the Delaware fall into the hands of 
the Swedes, and they invaded New Sweden, as it was 
called, besieged Fort Christina, and gained control of 
the region. Sweden made a slight effort to recover the terri- 
tory, but emigration ceased. The families already planted 
there, however, continued to flourish under Dutch rule ; and 
many well-known families in our day along the Delaware are 
descendants of these Swedes. 

1 Hawthorne has a sketch of Queen Christina in his Biographical Sketches. 

QUESTIONS. 

Why had fish become so important to Europe in the sixteenth century ? 
How were the fishermen helps to the early French explorers ? When 
did Verrazano set sail and with what object ? What was the result ? 
What Frenchman followed him and what did he accomplish ? In what 
part of America were the French more permanently settled ? What made 
the occupation of the St. Lawrence Kiver country most effective ? What 
two industries attracted Frenchmen thither ? To what French explorer 
are we especially indebted for early knowledge of the country ? How 
has his name become permanent in America ? Who was Loyola and 
what order did he found ? How did the Jesuits differ from other priests? 
How did they attempt to convert the Indians? How did the French 



38 DISCOVERY AND SETTLEMENT. 

make lasting enemies of the Iroquois ? Describe the successive explora- 
tions in the west of Cliamplain, Nicolet, Joliet. Wiiat is the tirst known 
reference to Chicago ? What was the date of La Salle's coming to 
Canada ? In what part of the St. Lawrence River does the name of his 
settlement survive ? Who first saw and described the Falls of Niagara ? 
Narrate the explorations by La Salle which ended with the full discovery 
of the Mississippi. What Spaniard once discovered the lower waters of 
that great river ? Where did Louisiana get its name ? What did that 
name at first cover ? What did the French do to hold possession of the 
Mississippi ? What is the nature of the country of Holland ? Under 
what rule was it once ? What made the Dutch merchants, navigators 
and fishermen ? What was the Dutch East India Company, and why 
did it send Hudson to this country ? Where did Hudson go ? What 
became of him ? What was the immediate effect of his discovery ? 
What was the nature of the Dutch occupation ? Narrate the successive 
stages in the Swedish occupation of the Delaware country. 

SEARCH QUESTIONS. 

Name some places in the United States which show signs of former 
French occupation. How near did Champlain and Hudson come to each 
other in their explorations ? The French Huguenots failed in making a 
settlement in Florida. There was a tragedy at Fort Caroline. What 
was it ? By what right does a nation lay claim to the territory of a 
country ? Where and when was made the first permanent French settle- 
ment in America ? Why did not Champlain continue his explorations 
southward after discovering Lake Champlain ? What explorations did 
Champlain make along the Atlantic coast? What is the orii^in of the 
word "Montreal " ? Where do our furs to-day come from ? Find some 
names in New York which are of Dutch origin. What price was paid by 
the Dutch to the Indians for Manhattan Island ? 



SUGGESTIONS FOR LITERARY TREATMENT. 

Compositions : 

A contrast of Chachagou-Ession and Chicago. 

A description of Niagara Falls as they must have been when Hennepin 
made his discovery. 

Hudson's explorations in the bay that bears his name. 

Debate : 

Besolved, That it was better for after generations that the Dutch rather 
than the French should have settled on the shores of the Hudson. 



CHAPTER IV. 



THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. I. 



Cabot (ka'bot). 

Be'ring. The strait so called was 
named from its discoverer, a 
Dane. 

Plymouth (plim'uth). 

Raleigh (raw'li). 

Pam'lico. 

Ro'anoke. 

Gosnold (gos'nold). 

Newport News (ntis). A cape at 
the entrance of the James River. 
The name originally was New- 
port-Newce, Sir William Newce, 
the marshal of the colony, being 
a neighbor of Newport. 

Parliament (par'li-ment). The 
body in English government 
which corresponds to our Con- 
gress. The word is from the 
French, and means ' ' the talking 
body." 

Powhatan (pow-ha-tan'). 

Pocahon'tas. 

Pyrites (pi-ri'tez). A yellow dust 
of no value, that looks like 
gold. 

Delaware. The old form is "de 
la Warr." 

Pat'ent. A legal paper giving 
special rights. The term is now 
used of inventions, but formerly 
it covered the right to plant col- 
onies and hold land. 

Leyden (li'den). 

Delft Ha'ven. The harbor at Delft, 



in Holland, eight miles from Delft, 
and near the city of Rotterdam. 

Mayflower. The English May- 
flower plant was the hawthorn ; 
but the name in America was ap- 
plied, very early, to the trailing 
arbutus, which is abundant in 
the woods near Plymouth. The 
Speedwell was also named from 
an English flower. 

Charter. A patent gave rights to 
hold property or to trade. A 
charter gave, besides, certain 
rights of government. 

Massachusetts. This was the 
name, as the English wrote it, 
of a tribe of Indians occupying 
the country. 

Harvard University, at Cambridge, 
Massachusetts, takes its name 
from John Harvard, a minister 
of Charlestown, who left his li- 
brary and half of his property 
to the college, which had been 
determined upon two years before 
his death. 

Groton (gro'ton). 

Sufi'olk (suf'fuk) = South Folk. 

Windsor (wTn'zer). 

Connecticut (kon-net'i-kut). An 
Indian name, meaning "the long 
river." 

Gorges (gor'jez). 

Saco (sa'ko). 

Piscat'aqua. 



39 



40 



DISCOVERY AND SETTLEMENT. 



Maine is said to derive its name 
from the use of the term to dis- 
tinguish the mainland from the 
islands on the coast. 

Commonwealth. The name by 
which Endand was called when 



under the rule of Parliament and 

Cromwell. 
Stuyvesant (sti've-sant). 
Revenue. The money received 

from taxes and custom-house 

dues. 




The Great Harry, -the First Famous Ship of the English Navy. Built in 1512. 



29. The First English Discoveries. — Each of four great nations 
of Europe made its separate entrance into America, and at 
the first occupied its separate territory; and each was look- 
ing for India. The English were very early on the ground. 
In 1497, but five years after the first voyage of Columbus, 
John Cabot, a Venetian captain, living in England, sailed out 
of Bristol in search of a northwest passage to India. He came 
upon the coast of North America near Cape Breton, and on a 
second voyage the next year followed south and westward 
nine hundrgd miles. ^ 

^ Documents describing the Voyage of John Cabot in 1497 will be found 
in No. 9, American History Leaflets. 



THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 



41 



The English at first paid little heed to these discoveries 
made by Cabot. They were intent on finding a way to India 
by the northeast; and only by repeated failures to get through 
the Arctic Ocean north of Asia, did they turn their attention 
to the Northwest Passage.^ During the earlier part of the 
sixteenth century, England was inferior in power to Spain 
and France, but it gathered strength, especially at sea.^ 

The south and west coast of England contains the harbors 
from which most of the vessels sailed, and the busiest of these 
was the harbor of Ply- 
mouth. Near by lived 
Sir Francis Drake, who, 
like Balboa, had seen 
the Pacific from Pan- 
ama, and could not rest 
till he had sailed upon 
it. So, in the autumn 
of 1577, Drake set sail 
with a fleet of five ves- 
sels. Three years later, 
he sailed into 
Plymouth har- ^^^^• 
bor with a single ves- 
sel. He had visited the 
coast of what is now 
California, and, cross- 
ing the Pacific Ocean, 
had rounded the Cape 
of Good Hope, and 
thus sailed round the globe. All England rang with his fame. 

30. Sir Walter Raleigh and his Ventures. — A great rivalry 
sprang up between England and Spain, which was partly com- 

1 Many lives were lost in attempts to find a Northwest Passage before it 
was recognized that the route is of no commercial importance. The first 
party of Europeans to make the journey between Bering Strait and Baffin's Bay 
was Captain M'Clure's in 1852-53, which went partly by water, partly over ice. 

2 See, for a spirited tale of this period, Charles Kingsley 's We^itiQard Ho I 




Sir Francis Drake. Born abont 1545 1 died 1595. 



42 



BISCOVEEl AUD SETTLEMENT. 



mercial, partly religious, and English statesmen turned their 
eyes toward the New World where Spain had acquired great 
wealth. One of these statesmen, Sir Walter Kaleigh, was 
occupied with great affairs in England, but he had large de- 
signs for colonizing America. Heretofore, Spaniards and 
Frenchmen had built forts and overrun the country, but their 
possession had been a military possession. Ealeigh and other 

Englishmen had it in 
mind to occupy the land 
with families, to till the 
soil and make homes. 

Raleigh sent two ves- 
sels to explore, which 
sailed by way of the 
Canaries and West In- 
dies; aud coming upon 
the shore of what is 
now North Carolina, 
anchored in Pamlico 
Sound, and visited Roa- 
noke Island. The ex- 
plorers brought back 
glowing accounts of the 
land and the people, and 
Raleigh obtained con- 
sent from the virgin 
Queen Elizabeth to 
name the country after her, Virginia. This name was at first 
applied to all the country lying between the French posses- 
sions and the Spanish, and extending no one knew how far to 
the west. 

Raleigh at once laid plans for a great colony. In the spring 
of 1585 he sent out seven ships, which carried a hundred colo- 
nists, several of whom were men of learning and fame. The 
settlers got into trouble with the Indians and in a year or two 
returned to England, bringing with them the first tobacco 




Sir Walter Raleigh. Born 1552. 



THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 



43 



ever seen in Europe. Raleigh was not discouraged. The 
next summer he sent out a fresh expedition, which for the 
first time included women. A child, named Virginia 
Dare, was born in the colony, the first born in Amer- 
ica of English parentage. She was the granddaughter of John 
White, the governor 



1587. 



of the colony. 

The Lost Colony. — 

White returned to 
England for further 
help; he found the 
country engaged in a 
new war with Spain, 
and it was three years 
before he could get 
back to Virginia. 
When he did return, 
not a colonist was to 
be found, nor any 
trace of the company 
beyond a few letters 
cut in the bark of a 
tree. Raleigh sent 
vessel after vessel in 
vain search for the 
lost colony. He him- 
self fell into trouble 
at home, and at last 
could do nothing 
more in Virginia. He 
said, "I shall yet live to see it an English nation." But he 
did not live to see this. He was a victim of the troublous 
times which were coming upon England, and was 
put to death by King James I. He intended his ^^^^' 
colony to bear the name of Raleigh, and that name was after- 
wards given to the capital of the State formed from the 




Cape Lookout 



The Coast visited by Raleigh's Vessels. 



44 DISCOVERY AND SETTLEMENT. 

region in which he sought to plant his colony. It is a famous 

name in English history, and the story of Ealeigh's attempt 

shows how the greatest Englishmen were thinking of the New 

World. 

31. The Virginia Company In the year in which Raleigh 

sent out his last vessel to search for the lost colony, 
1602 i 

' the Earl of Southampton sent Bartholomew Gosnold, 

with a small vessel, to plant a colony in Virginia. Gosnold 
reached the coast near Casco Bay, sailed south, and visited 
a cape, to which he gave the name of Cape Cod, which it has 
ever since borne. When he returned to England with accounts 
of the country which he had visited, he persuaded a 
number of men of influence to form the Virginia Com- 
pany, an association somewhat like the stock companies of our 
da}^, but designed chiefly for trade and for settling new lands. 
This company received the right to hold all the land from 
Cape Fear to the St. Croix River. King James I., who suc- 
ceeded Queen Elizabeth, was anxious to increase his own 
power, and to make the royal family more independent of 
Parliament and the people. The patent which he 

■ gave the Virginia Company, therefore, provided care- 
fully for the government of such colonies as the company 
might form. The king was to appoint the managing council. 
The Virginia Company was in two divisions, called the Lon- 
don Company a.nd the Plymouth Company. The former, com- 
posed chiefly of men living in London, was to trade and form 
colonies in the southern part of the territory. The latter, 
composed of members living about Plymouth, was to control 
the northern part. 

The Jamestown Settlement. — The next year the first per- 
manent settlement by Englishmen in America was made. 
The London Company sent out about a hundred men 

■ in a fleet of three vessels, commanded by Captain 
Christopher Newport,^ who was instructed to land on Roanoke 
Island. A storm arose off the coast, and drove the fleet into 

1 Ilis name remams in Newport News. 



THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA, 



4o 



Chesapeake Bay, whicli they entered for shelter. They were 
so attracted by the beauty of the place that they determined 
to settle there; and after exploring the shores of a river, 
which they named the James from the King of England, 
they chose a low 
peninsula^ for their 
settlement. There 
they landed. May 13, 
and called the place 
Jamestown. They 
had named the two 
capes at the entrance 
of the bay. Cape Hen- 
ry and Cape Charles, 
for the sons of the 
king. 

32. The Founding of 
Virginia. — ^N^ot half 
of the colony had ever 
worked with their 
hands. Most of the 
members were gentle- 
men who hoped to 
find gold at once, and 
make their fortunes; 
but they fell to work 
in the pleasant wea- 
ther, cut down trees, 
built huts, and made 
rude clapboards, with 
which they loaded 




First gettlement in Virginia. 



two of the vessels, and sent Captain Newport back with them 
to England. He was to return with supplies. 

A terrible summer followed. The peninsula, which they 
had chosen for security against the Indians, was an unhealthy 

1 What was then a peninsula has since become an island. 



46 DISCOVERY AND SETTLEMENT. 

spot, and a pestilence swept away lialf the colony. If it had 
not been for some Indians, who brought them corn, the rest 
would have died of starvation. The frosts of autumn stayed 
the pestilence, and the colony then found an abundance of 
game. The Indians, for the most part, were friendly, but 
they had not forgotten the wrongs which they had suffered 
from the parties sent out by Ealeigh ; and the English were 
too ready to use their guns whenever they fancied the Indians 
meant to attack them. 

The Story of Pocahontas. — The most powerful chief in the 
neighborhood was Powhatan, who had his principal village 
on the bank of what is now York Eiver. Captain John 
Smith, the real leader of the colony, was exploring the coun- 
try with two men, when the Indians fell upon them, killed the 
two men, and carried Smith captive to Powhatan, who deter- 
mined to put him to death. Smith tells the story that, at the 
moment when his head was laid upon a stone, and Powhatan 
stood with an uplifted club ready to dash out his brains, 
Pocahontas, a young daughter of the chief, rushed in and 
begged her father to spare the white man's life; whereupon 
Smith was released. Certain it is that Powhatan, after this, 
treated the English kindly; and Pocahontas, who was a lively 
Indian girl, made friends with them, visited Jamestown, and 
finally married one of the colonists named John Kolfe, with 
whom she went to England. She was greatly admired there 
as an Indian princess, but died before she could return to 
Virginia. 

Hunting for Gold. — The company in England still believed 
that Virginia was near India; and when they heard stories 
about Powhatan, they imagined him to be a king of great 
importance, and sent a crown to be placed on his head. They 
bade the colonists also hunt for gold, and for the South Sea, 
as the Pacific Ocean was called. Captain Smith had sailed up 
the rivers and about the bays without finding any way through 
to India. He made expeditions up the Atlantic coast also, 
and published more than one account of his voyages, with 



THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 



maps. Indeed, he did more perhaps than any single person 
to make the new country known in England. Some people 
had discovered a substance, which they supposed to be gold. 




Captain John Smith. Born 1580) died 1631. 

They loaded a ship with it and sent it back to England; but 
it proved to be iron pyrites, or fool's gold. 

Reenf orcements from England. — In spite of the ill success of 
these first ventures, there was a strong conviction in England 
that emigration to Virginia was a good thing, and that this 



48 DISCOVER r AND SETTLEMENT, 

new country would give a fresh chance to the multitude of 
poor in. England. A new charter was obtained by which the 
company could manage its affairs and emigration better. 
Sermons, even, were preached in the churches, advising the 
poor to go to Virginia. When finally, after various disasters, 
a fleet commanded by Lord Delaware, who had been appointed 
Governor of Virginia, drew near the settlement, it met the 
wretched colonists coming down the river. They had been so 
discouraged and were in such trouble with the Indians that 
they had determined to abandon Virginia. 

Tobacco. — A. change at once came over the colony. Lord 
Delaware was the first of a succession of governors who man- 
aged Virginia very much as if they were kings with absolute 
power over their subjects. They made very severe laws, and 
compelled every one to work for the company. They built forts, 
and on the slightest pretext attacked the Indians and burned 
their villages. The settlements on the James River began to 
thrive, and large plantations were formed. The set- 
■ tiers began to plant tobacco after the custom of the 
Indians about them, and to export it to England. In vain did 
the King of England, James I., write a tract against the use 
of the weed. It became at once popular in England, and the 
chief source of wealth in Virginia. 

33. The Separatists. — One year after the first English colony 
was planted at Jamestown, a number of families from the 
northeastern part of England made their way secretly to 
Holland, where they settled, first in Amsterdam and after- 
ward in Leyden. They belonged to a class of religious per- 
sons known as Separatists, because they had separated from 
the Church of England. 

The Church of England had separated from the Roman 
Catholic Church; but these Separatists declared that the 
teachings of the one church were but little different from 
those of the other. They believed that true religion is 
simple, and that when a few people come together with their 
Bibles, they can teach, one another all that is needed for a 



THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA, 49 

religious life. The Church of England demanded obedience; 
and since it was a part of the government of the land, it 
could enforce this obedience by fines and imprisonment. The 
Separatists had few noble or rich men in their number; there- 
fore they were not influential. But they believed devoutly 
that right was on their side, and for ten years they continued 
to leave the country rather than submit to the laws of the 
Church of England. 

The Separatists in Holland. — In Holland they were among 
a crowded people, speaking a different language and having 
different manners. As their children grew up, it became clear 
to the parents that they would learn the Dutch language, 
marry, settle in Holland, and cease to be English. The wiser 
among them looked earnestly, therefore, for some country 
where they could keep their English ways. This was espe- 
cially needful since a truce of twelve years between Spain and 
Holland was drawing to an end and war might soon break 
out. They could not go to Jamestown, because the Church of 
England ruled there; so their friends in England formed a 
company and agreed to send them to the northern part of the 
territory claimed by the London Company. 

34. The Pilgrims. — A part of the Separatists set out first, 
to prepare the way. They sailed in the Speedwell from Delft 
Haven, in Holland, to Southampton, in England. There they 
were joined by the Mayflower ; but after putting out to sea, 
the Speedwell was found to be unsafe, and they turned back to 
the harbor of Plymouth. Here they decided to abandon the 
Speedwell. A few gave up going altogether, and the rest, a 
hundred and two^ in number, crowded with their goods into 
the little Mayflower. They tried to reach the Jersey coast, 
but were driven out of their course by storms ; at last they 
cast anchor in the harbor of what is now Provincetown, at the 
end of Cape Cod. 

As soon as they had landed, they fell upon their knees and 

1 One died on the voyage, and a child, Oceanus Hopkins, was born; so that 
the number remained the same. 
£ 



50 DISCOVERY ANB SETTLEMENT. 

blessed God for having brought them safe across the ocean. 
And since they had been moved chiefly by religious reasons, 
and had wandered far from their first home, these men and 
women have come to be known in history as the Pilgrims. 
The spot on which they had landed was not suitable for a 
settlement, especially as there was no good water to be had. 
Parties were sent out to explore the coast and the bay. 




The Mayflower. 

Landing of the Pilgrims. — The reports which they brought 
back led the whole company to return to the Mayflower, and 
sail across the bay to a sheltered harbor, where they cast 
anchor. -They were pleased to find a brook of pure water 
which flowed down a hillside opposite the harbor; and there 
were fields which had been cleared by the Indians for planting. 
The place had been marked Plymouth on a map which Captain 
John Smith ^ had made of the coast ; that was the name, too, 

1 Smith had offered to go with the Pilgrims and help them settle in America, 
but they declined his offer. 



TBE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 51 

of the last place they had left in England, where they had 
many friends. Plymouth, therefore, was the name they gave 
to the settlement now formed. A large rock, the only one in 
the neighborhood, is pointed out as the spot upon which the 
exploring party that discovered the place is said to have landed. 
The twenty-second day of December is observed as the Land- 
ing of the Pilgrims, although the Mayflower did not arrive till 
five days later. The year of the landing was 1620. 

35. The Plymouth Settlement While the Mayflower lay in 

Provincetown harbor the Pilgrims signed a compact ^ for gov- 
ernment, for they supposed themselves in a region not held by 
any English company. By this compact they agreed to stand 
by one another, and to obey the laws which they might make 
for the rule of the colony. Not much government was 
required, for nearly all were of one mind. They were chiefly 
anxious to have among them those of the same faith ; for they 
had braved the seas because they hoped in this new land to 
keep what they valued most, — their religion. 

During the first winter some of the Pilgrims lived in the 
rude huts which they had built, and some remained on board 
the Mayflower. Half of the company died before the winter 
was over. Although they had suffered so much, not one went 
back to England when the Mayflower sailed in April. New 
companies were sent out from England to Plymouth and its 
neighborhood, but all were not of the same spirit as the Pil- 
grims. Since Plymouth proved to be in a part of the country 
held by the Plymouth Company, the colonists came under the 
control of that company, but it granted them the right to some 
self-government. 

They had at first much fear lest the savages should molest 
them, and they looked for military guidance to one of their 
number, a short, thickset man, Captain Miles Standish,^ who 
had seen fighting in the war between Holland and Spain. But 

1 This compact is considered very important in American history because 
it shows the crude beginning of constitution making. 

^ Longfellow wrote a famous poem called The Courtship of Miles Standish. 



52 DISCOVERY AND SETTLEMENT. 

there had been a plague not long before which had swept away 
most of the Indians in the neighborhood, and those who re- 
mained were, for the most part, disposed to be friendly.^ 

36. The Puritans. — The Pilgrims kept up a connection 
with their friends in England, and their settlement in Amer- 
ica caused much interest among those Englishmen who were 
known as Puritans. These were so nicknamed because they 
claimed to be seeking purer church ways; but they were 
still members of the Church of England. Unlike the Separa- 
tists, they formed a political as well as religious party, and 
they stood for government by law through Parliament against 
government by the will of the king. 

A crisis came when King Charles I. dissolved Parliament. 
He meant to rule in his own name, and most of the bishops of 
the Church were on his side. The Puritans were 
greatly alarmed. They thought that there would be 
no civil liberty in England when the king ruled without con- 
sulting Parliament. They feared that the bishops would lead 
the people back to the Church of Pome. A great many wished 
to escape from England, and tliey began to think of the country 
beyond the seas as a place of refuge. The old England was 
going to ruin; they would set up a new England there. If 
liberty was in danger in England, they would give liberty a 
new home. 

A trading company had just been formed, under the title 
of "The Governor and Company of the Massachusetts Bay 
in New England." It was composed of Puritans, and had 
a charter from King Charles giving a territory described as 

1 There is an interesting series of historical romances dealing with the life 
of the Plymouth colony, written hy Jane Goodwin Austin. The first is called 
Standish of Standish. Goodwin's The Pilgrim Republic is a comprehensive 
account. The most thorough condensed study of the Pilgrims is Arber's The 
Story of the Pilgrim Fathers. The most famous contemporary work is Brad- 
ford's History of Plymouth Plantation. A readable portion of this is easily 
accessible in No. 3 of Historical Classic Readings. Governor Bradford sent 
home a narrative of the colony in 1622, but some Frenchmen captured the 
little vessel Fortune, which sailed between the colony and England, and 
carried off the narrative. 



THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA, 53* 

extending from the Atlantic to the Western Ocean, and from 
three miles above the Merrimac River to three miles below 
the Charles, and their branches. The members could make 
laws for the government of the territory, but these laws must 
not oppose the laws of England. 

37. The Migration of the Puritans. — There was nothing novel 
in such a charter. Other companies had been formed before 
and had received similar charters. But the company, after 
the king dissolved Parliament, was suddenly enlarged. Many 
English gentlemen of education and rank sold their property 
in England and joined the company. The most conspicuous 
of them was John Winthrop, a gentleman from Groton, in 
Suffolk County, a part of England where there were many 
Puritans. He was chosen governor of the company.^ 

They determined to go over to America, carry the charter 
with them, and take possession themselves of the territory 
belonging to the company. This was a bold step. Before, the 
company in England had sent out colonists, and had managed 
the affairs of the colony in London. The king and his court 
were close at hand to interfere. Now, the company would 
itself be in America, at a distance from the king, and man- 
aging its own affairs on the spot. 

In the spring of 1630 not far from a thousand persons left 
England and sailed for the shores of Massachusetts Bay. They 
went iirst to Salem, for it was Puritans who had founded that 
place. But the settlers advised them to seek a place near the 
head of the bay. They went accordingly to what is now 
Charlestown. Then the most of them crossed the Charles 
River to a peninsula. It could be easily defended; it had 
good springs of water, and before it lay a wide harbor. Since 
their chief minister, John Cotton, came from Boston in Eng- 
land, and many others from its neighborhood, that name was 
given #fco the place. Others who came from Dorchester in 
England gave that name to a place near by. The English 
very often gave the names of their old homes to new settle- 
1 See his life by J. Twichell. 



54 DISCOVERY AND SETTLEMENT. 

ments in America, just as in western States to-day we find 
names of towns copied from those in the East from which 
their first settlers came. 




John Winthrop. Born 1587 ; died 1649. 

38. The Settlement at Boston. — The peninsuLa of Boston was 
at that time connected with the mainland by a narrow neck 
over which the sea would wash. This peninsula was uneven 
in surface, having high hills and marshy hollows, and was 
bare of wood. No Indians lived upon it, and there were very 



THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 55 

few signs of any Indians in the neighborhood. Three or four 
EngMslimen only had made clearings about the lower bay. 
The people who took possession of this territory had come to 
stay, and did not mean to be dependent upon England. All, 
from the governor down, applied themselves to some useful 
occupation. 

They began at once to cultivate the land, both on the pen- 
insula and in the farms which they laid out in the surround- 
ing country. Since the colony was by the water side, the 
business of fishing early became important. Within a year 
shipbuilding began. The governor built a bark of thirty tons' 
burden, called the Blessing of the Bay. Soon a fleet of ves- 
sels, large and small, built in the colony, were sailing out of 
Boston and Salem harbors, and smaller ports, to Virginia and 
Bermuda, and across the ocean to England. 

39. The Beginnings of Massachusetts. — While this bustling 
life was adding strength and wealth to the colony, the people 
were showing in other ways that they intended to establish a 
State. They set up schools for their children, and 
they laid the foundation of a college, which has grown 
into the prosperous Harvard University. 

In England the Puritans had tried to strip the Church of all 
forms and ceremonies which seemed to them to make it like the 
Church of Eome. Thus it was easy for them, when they came 
to America and were left to themselves, to carry out their ideas. 
They formed churches upon the plan of a mutual covenant or 
agreement, and chose their own pastors and teachers ; in this 
they were influenced by the Pilgrims. The Puritans in England 
had also been unwilling that the king should have the power 
to rule the people without giving them a voice in the govern- 
ment. In Massachusetts they meant to manage their own 
affairs ; and they agreed that none should vote but those who 
were members of the churches which they formed. 

As the number of inhabitants in the colony increased, and 
towns were established at distances from one another, it became 
impossible for all the voters in the colony to meet together. 



56 DISCOVERY AND SETTLEMENT. 

Thus it came about that the voters in each town chose persons 
to represent them at a General Court of the whole colony 
which met in Boston. For ten years the colony grew rapidly. 
Within those years about twenty thousand persons crossed the 
Atlantic to New England. It was the first great migration of 
Englishmen, and it was mainly a migration of Puritans.^ 

40. The Settling of Connecticut. — It was not long before the 

settlers began to push into the interior. The Blessing of the 

Bay made a cruise in Long Island Sound, and came back with 

reports of the Connecticut River. Some people of 

Plymouth who heard of the richness of the river 

valley made a settlement on its banks at what is now Windsor. 

The Dutch from New Amsterdam had already built a fort 
and trading post six miles below, at the place -here Hartford 
now stands ; their purpose was to get furs from the Indians. 
Then a number of people from towns in the neighborhood of 
Boston moved to the same river, with all their goods and cattle. 
A whole church with its minister went through the woods into 
the new country ; and three towns were formed, — Windsor, 
Wethersfield, and Hartford. In 1637 these towns united to 
form a General Court for the government of the colony of 
Connecticut. 

Saybrook and New Haven. — Meanwhile a patent had been given 
to two English noblemen. Lord Say and Sele and Lord Brook. 
This patent gave them the land bordering upon the Connecticut 
River; and in 1635 John Winthrop, son of the Governor of 
Massachusetts, came from England with a colony to take posses- 
sion. He drove the Dutch away from the mouth of the river, 
where they built a fort, and he planted there the town of Say- 
brook. Another colony of English Puritans was established at 
New Haven. It bought its land from the Indians. 
Thus there were three colonies within the borders of 
what is now the State of Connecticut. Saybrook afterward 

1 In my Boston Town will be found a detailed narrative of the early life in 
Massachusetts. No. 8 of Higginson's Young Folks' Series comprises The Fil- 
grims at Plymouth and The Massachusetts Bay Company, 



N-''-%"':::pr^' 



Cape Elizabeth 



THE 

NEW ENGLAND 

COAST 










( /^ .rA\ ej mouth ^^ v^ 



^o)>r^WJ;^AV m 



\^ 



.V 
















58 DISCOVERY AND SETTLEMENT. 

became a part of the Connecticut colony, which had its seat of 
government at Hartford. 

41. The Beginning of Rhode Island. — Ehode Island was 
formed partly by colonists from Massachusetts Bay and partly 
by companies from England. But the colonists from Massa- 
chusetts Bay did not go to Rhode Island of their own will. 
They differed, from the rulers at Boston, and were compelled 
to find some other home. They went to Narragansett Bay, 
which was claimed by the other colonies. 

The Puritans had come to Massachusetts Bay to be free 
from the Church of England and to govern themselves. But 
they were not all of the same way of thinking; hence the 
leaders took alarm. They thought the colony was in danger 
from those who differed from them in religious views ; and 
they either banished them or made it too uncomfortable for 
them to stay. A minister named Roger Williams said, for one 
thing, that the magistrates ought not to declare wliat a man's 
religion should be; what seemed to them more dangerous was 
his assertion that the Massachusetts people had no true title 
to the land they had bought of the Indians. The magis- 
trates said that Williams was a source of peril, and they 
drove him out of the colony. He went to the wilderness, 
where he was befriended by the Indians. At last, 
' with five companions, he made his home at a place 
which he called Providence, because God had provided for him. 
In 1638 and the year following, settlements were made at 
Portsmouth and Newport on the island of Rhode Island, and 
other towns sprang up. These various settlements sent Roger 
Williams to England to obtain a charter for the government. 
It was full of his ideas, and gave the people great 
freedom, especially in religious matters. The settle- 
ments were constantly troubled by the Massachusetts and 
Plymouth people in regard to boundaries, and Massachusetts 
tried to bring the colony under her rule. 

42. Maine and New Hampshire. — Sir Ferdinando Gorges, a 
man of great ambition, who had dreams of founding a great 



the' ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 59 

kingdom in America, obtained a grant of land in New Eng- 
land. He began settlements at Portsmouth and Dover, and 
in 1623 joined with him Captain John Mason. Seven years 
later, Saco and Biddeford were founded. Immediately after 
this, Gorges and Mason divided their claims. Gorges took 
the country to the east of the Piscataqua River. Mason took 
the remainder of the grant and named it New Hampshire, 
because at the time he held high office in the county of Hamp- 
shire in England. Mason died, and the settlements in New 
Hampshire were left to themselves. Other people came from 
Massachusetts, and for a while the towns were under the rulfe 
of that colony. The little fishing villages in Maine were also 
left much to themselves, for Gorges never came over to look 
after his estate. 

43. The Treatment of the Indians by the English As the colo- 
nies increased in number, and sent out their members farther 
and farther into the wilderness, the Indian saw that the land 
over which he had freely roamed was closing against him. 
He saw it was impossible to live by hunting where the white 
man was tilling the soil. The English showed little wisdom 
in their treatment of the Indians. They disliked them for 
their savage ways. They could not understand them, and 
tried to make them obey laws which it was impossible for an 
Indian to understand. They thought they might make ser- 
vants of the Indians ; but this was like taming wild animals. 

Attempts at Christianizing the Indians. — The Puritans, in- 
deed, regarded the Indians as heathen. Many treated them 
harshly, and wished them out of the way. A few sought to 
make Christians of them; and one holy man in particular, 
the Rev. John Eliot, was so faithful in his efforts for them 
that he came to be known as the Apostle to the Indians. 
He translated the Bible into the Indian tongue as well 
as various religious books and sermons. A hall for In- 
dians even was built in connection with Harvard College. 
There were few Indians, however, who would give up their 
wild ways. The rest hovered about the English settlements, 



60 DISCOVERT AND SETTLEMENT. 

or retreated into the woods and talked over schemes for rid- 
ding the country of the newcomers. Both in New England 
and in New Netherland the whites and the Indians began to 
irritate each other more and more. 

44. Indian Wars. — Those settlers who lived outside of Bos- 
ton and the few seaport villages built palisades about their 
houses and farm buildings. A group of buildings thus pro- 
tected was called a stockade. Sometimes they made the houses 
themselves into rude forts, in which they could defend them- 
selves in case of need. All the towns and villages had train- 




A Stockade. 

bands, — companies of men ready to march at a moment's 
notice. In any fight with the Indians the whites at first had 
the advantage of firearms ; but the Indians soon learned the 
use of these. The English forbade the sale of arms to the 
Indians, but the Dutch traders sold them freely. The Indians, 
however, depended chiefly upon their tomahawks when they 
suddenly appeared from the woods and attacked farms and 
villages. 

The Pequot War. — The first severe war with the Indians be- 
gan in 1636, and is known as the Pequot War. The Pequots 
were a fierce tribe living in the eastern part of what is now 
Connecticut. The English showed little mercy in this war and 



THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 61 

almost utterly destroyed the Pequot tribe. The punishment 
was so severe that it was many years before another Indian 
war broke out. But the Indian hate was deepened. 

The United Colonies of New England. — An important effect of 
the war upon the New England colonies was to cause them to 
seek a close union. In the peril, each had helped the other. 
Connecticut and New Haven were especially anxious to have 
such a league because they were most exposed to danger from 
the Dutch and the Indians. They were willing to admit 
Rhode Island; but Massachusetts would not consent to that — 
she would not admit into such a league people whom she had 
driven out from her borders. The league, finally, was formed 
in 1643. It was called the United Colonies of New England, 
and embraced Massachusetts, Plymouth, New Haven, and Con- 
necticut. It was not proposed to unite these colonies under 
one government. Each was to continue independent ; but they 
formed the league for mutual advice and aid.^ 

45. The Puritan Commonwealth in England. — One of the rea- 
sons which the people of New England gave for forming a 
closer union among themselves was the condition of England 
itself. That country was "distracted," and the colonies in 
New England declared that they must trust more to them- 
selves and less to the mother country. The conflict between 
the king and Parliament had become open war, and with the 
war emigration to America ceased. There was so 
much excitement in England, and the Puritan party 
was coming to have so much power, that few wished to go to 
the new land. 

The war between the king and Parliament continued for 
seven years, when King Charles I. was tried and executed. 
England was now declared to be a Commonwealth. The 
people were to rule through their representatives in Parlia- 
ment, and Oliver Cromwell became chief magistrate, with the 
title of Lord Protector. Although this success of the Puri- 

1 See The Articles of Confederation of the United Colonies of New England 
in No. 7, American Hiatoin/ Leaflets, 



62 DISCOVERY AND SETTLEMENT. 

tans in England was welcome to their friends in New England, 
great care was taken by the colonies not to join either party 
openly. They had been really governing themselves, 
' and they wished to keep clear of the control of Eng- 
land, whether that control was exercised by the king or by 
Parliament. 

46. The Navigation Acts. — The laws which Parliament made 
for the regulation of trade were of great importance to America. 

The first of a series of acts, called the Navigation Acts, 
was now passed. It declared that no goods should be 
carried to the colonies or brought from them except in English 
ships. This act was followed by others forbidding the colonies 
to send their products to any ports except such as belonged 
to England. These laws were intended to increase the ship- 
ping and benefit the merchants of England ; for it was com- 
monly held in those days that colonies existed chiefly for the 
benefit of the mother country. 

European Rivalries. — One effect of these laws was to make 
ill feeling between England and other commercial countries of 
Europe. Holland was the great rival of England, and war 
broke out between the two countries, which ended in 
breaking down Holland. England also went to war 
with Spain, and took from her the island of Jamaica, which she 
still holds. The Puritan Commonwealth of England did not 
last after Cromwell's death. The monarchy was restored, and 
King Charles 11. came to the throne. The Naviga- 
tion Acts, however, and other laws which Cromwell's 
Parliament had made, continued to be the law of the land; and 
the country sought to get rich through its colonies. 

47. The Conflict between the English and the Dutch in America. 
— There had always been a dispute as to the first discovery of 
the coast of New Netherland. The king took advantage of 
this dispute to set up his claim ; and he made a formal deed of 
all the country between the Connecticut and Delaware rivers 
to his brother, the Duke of York. The New England colonies 
were well pleased at this, They had been crowding the Dutch 



THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 63 

out of Connecticut, and had been claiming one piece of land 
after another. They were quite ready, therefore, to take sides 
with the king when he sent an English fleet across the Atlan- 
tic and took possession of New Netherland. 

The Dutch were in no position to resist. The governor, 
Peter Stuyvesant, a brave man, urged his countrymen to stand 
by him and attack the fleet ; but it was a hopeless 
endeavor. The English set up the king's standard, 
changed the name of New Amsterdam to New York, and that 
of Fort Orange to Albany. This act and others similar to it 
on the coast of Africa led to another war with Hoi- 
land. During the war New York for a short time ' 

was again under Dutch rule. But at the end of the 
war New Netherland was ceded to England.^ 

48. King Philip's War. — And now a sudden and terrible 
blow fell upon New England. An Indian chieftain, named 
Philip, who was much above the common Indians in character 
and power of mind, brooded over the wrongs which his race 
had suffered from the strangers. He formed the purpose of 
uniting all the Indians into one body and sweeping the Eng- 
lish from the country. His plans were laid with great skill, 
and for more than a year the war raged, carrying 
desolation through the country. Almost every man 
who could handle a musket took part in the war, which came 
to an end when Philip was killed near Mt. Hope, Rhode 
Island. 

The population of Massachusetts at the time was about 
twenty-five thousand, and it was estimated that a tenth of the 
fighting men of the colony had been killed. This war, called 
King Philip's War, was the last conflict with the Indians in the 
settled parts of New England. The tribes were broken up'; 
many Indians were miserably sold into slavery in the West 
Indies; others fled farther west. The Christian or Praying 

1 An entertaining account of early New York, in a half-burlesque form, is 
Knickerbocker's History of Neio York, by Washington Irving. A very good 
historical novel of the period is The Begum's Daughter, by E. L. Bynner. 




64 DISCOVERY AND SETTLEMENT. 

Indians, as they were called, had saved the lives of many of 
the people. 

49. The Loss of the Charters. — While the war lasted, the colo- 
nies were bound together by the common peril. When the 
war was over, each colony found itself weak, through loss 
of men and money. The confederation had gradually failed 
in authority, and in each colony there 
were divisions and parties. Every year 
it became more difficult to keep unbroken 
the early Puritan plan of a religious state. 
In Massachusetts the government was 
obliged to yield to the king's demand, 
and give men who were not members of 
the Church a right to vote. Complaint 
Pine-Tree Shilling. ^^^ made to the king that Massachusetts 
was coining money, — the right to do 
which belonged to the king alone. 

At last the king lost patience ; the courts declared the char- 
ter of Massachusetts void. Henceforth the king would rule 
the colony himself, through a council and president whom he 
would appoint. There was to be no General Court. 
The people were to have no voice in the government. 
It was the act of Charles II. ; but just as it was announced, 
he died, and left the throne to his brother, James II. This 
king regarded all the northern colonies as a part of the posses- 
sion of the crown. He claimed all the land as his ; he was to 
make all the laws and lay all the taxes, without asking any 
one's consent. Accordingly, he sent over Sir Edmund Andros 
to be governor of the Province of New England and 
New York. All the separate charters were to be 
revoked. The separate colonial governments were to be abol- 
ished where they interfered with the authority of Andros. 

A murmur arose throughout the country. For more than 
fifty years the people had been governing themselves ; now 
they were bidden to give up this right. In Hartford the 
colonial government met to deliver up the charter. It was 



THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 



65 



evening, and the charter lay on the table. Suddenly the 
candles were blown out. When they were relighted, the char- 
ter had disappeared. One of the members had carried it off ; 
and the story is that he hid it in the hollow trunk of the 
oak which long stood, and bore the name of the Charter Oak. 

50. William and Mary. — Sir Edmund Andros was using in 
New England the despotic power which his master. King 
James II., was using in England. But- in neither country 
was liberty dead. In England the king was driven from his 




The Charter Oak. 



throne. By a bloodless revolution, William, Prince of Orange, 
the grandson of Charles I., and Mary, his wife, the 
eldest daughter of James II., were called to rule in 
his stead ; Parliament, which James had closed, again sat and 
made laws. 

In New England rumors came of these changes. Before 
the overthrow of King James was positively known, the people 
of Boston rose, seized the king's officers, shut up the 
governor in a fort, and took possession of the govern- 
ment. Shortly after, the tidings came that William and Mary 
were King and Queen of England. The several colonies of 



1689. 



66 DISCOVERY AND SETTLEMENT. 

New England again governed themselves under new charters. 
The governors of Massachusetts and for a time those of New 
Hampshire, indeed, were appointed by the crown, and the 
officers of the revenue were the king's officers. The towns 
elected representatives to the different assemblies, and made 
their own laws; but these were not to oppose the laws of 
England.^ 

1 Hawthorne's Grandfather's Chair is a pleasant series of sketches of early 
New England. 

QUESTIONS. 

Who was England's first discoverer of America ? What routes were 
successively tried by English sailors making their way toward India? 
Who was the first Englishman to visit California ? What great queen 
ruled England ? What part of North America did Raleigh seek to colo- 
nize ? Tell the experience he had in his attempt. Where, in America, 
is his name preserved? Narrate Gosnold's voyage. What was the for- 
mation of the Virginia Company, and how was it divided ? When and 
where was the first permanent settlement, by Englishmen in America, 
made? What members of the royal family of that date have their names 
preserved in Virginia ? What is the origin of the name Newport News ? 
Describe the beginning of the colony. What relation did the early Vir- 
ginians have with the natives ? Tell the story of Captain John Smith and 
Pocahontas. What did the English company expect of their colony in 
Virginia ? What production of the soil gave prosperity to the country ? 
Who were the Separatists ? Where did they go first ? Why did they 
go ? What induced them again to leave their new home ? Give an 
account of their adventures before they finally established a home. What 
is the name by which the settlers in Plymouth are known ? What English 
explorer had been before them, and drawn a map of the coast? What 
was the government of the colony ? Describe the experience of the first 
colonists. Who was their first captain ? What was the difference be- 
tween the Pilgrims and the Puritans ? Narrate the political conditions of 
England which led to a migration of the Puritans. What was the nature 
of the company formed ? How did their action with regard to the charter 
differ from that of other colonists ? Who was the first governor ? How 
large a company came to Massachusetts Bay in 1630 ? Where were the 
first settlements made ? What led to the chief settlement being made in 
Boston ? Describe the mode of life in the first years of the colony. 
What signs did the people give of their interest in education and religion ? 



TSE ENGLISH IN AMBRtCA. 67 

What constituted the right to vote ? Describe the government of the 
colony. 

From what three sources was Connecticut first settled ? Name the 
origin of 8ay brook. What led to the first settlement in Rhode Island ? 
Who was Roger Williams ? What was his relation to the Indians ? How 
did Providence get its name ? What special service did Roger Williams 
render Rhode Island ? Give an account of Mason and Gorges, and the 
settlements made by them. How did the English and Indians get along 
together? Who translated the Bible into an Indian language? Who 
were the Pequots ? What was the result of the war ? What was the 
league of 1643 ? Was this the beginning of a union of the colonies ? 

When did the civil war in England break out ? What were the people 
fighting for ? How did the quarrel end ? Why did not the people of New 
England take part in the war ? What were the Navigation Acts ? What 
wars followed ? What claim was made by Charles II. ? Why did the 
Dutch call their territory New Netherland ? the town, New Amsterdam ? 
the settlement. Fort Orange? What changes were made by the Eng- 
lish ? 

What is said of Philip? What plan did he form ? How did the war 
begin, and what was the result ? What change took place in the Massa- 
chusetts colony? What was the "pine-tree shilling"? What did the 
king determine to do ? Who was sent over to rule New York and New 
England in the king's name? What is the story of the Charter Oak? 
When James II. was dethroned, what happened? What relation was 
William to Mary ? 

SEARCH QUESTIONS. 

What is the name of the legislature of Massachusetts to-day ? What 
title is given to the legislature of Virginia, and why ? Can you name any 
State in the United States which calls itself a commonwealth ? How 
many such States are there ? Did any of the persons who tried King 
Charles I. come to America? What were they called, and what became 
of them ? What families in Virginia trace their descent from Poca- 
hontas ? Who was the first child born to the Pilgrims after their land- 
ing at Plymouth ? 

SUGGESTIONS FOR LITERARY TREATMENT. 

Compositions : 

An account of Bradford's History of Plymouth Plantation in its wan- 
derings to England and back. 

The finding of the letter sent home by Bradford, and what it contained. 



68 DISCOVERY AND SETTLEMENT. 

Imaginary letter from a passenger in the Mayflower telling of the 
voyage. 

The difference between the Pilgrim and the Puritan. 

Contrast Boston of to-day with Boston of 1636. 

The treatment of the Indian by the Spaniard, the Frenchman, and the 
Englishman. 

The hiding of the charter in Charter Oak. 

Debates: 

Besolved, That the honor of discovering America belongs more to 
Cabot than to Columbus. 

Besolved, That the discovery of tobacco was an evil. 

Besolved, That the Massachusetts colony acted prudently in banishing 
Roger Williams. 

Besolved, That there was more bravery in the days of the bow and 
arrow than in these days of rifle and cannon. 

Besolved, That the treatment of the Indians by the Puritans brought 
about King Philip's War. 



CHAPTER V. 



THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. II. 



Dissen'ters. The name applied in 
England to those who dissented 
or separated from the Church of 
England. 

Dep'uty. A deputy acts in the 
place of the regular officer 
when that officer cannot be pres- 
ent. 

Schuylkill (skool'kil). A name 
given by the Dutch. Kill, which 
frequently is found in the end- 
ing of names in New York, 
as Catskill, Peekskill, means 
"creek." Schuyl finds its near- 
est English word in " skulk " : 



and Schuylkill means thus, "hid- 
den creek." 

Lenni Lenape (len'ni len-a'pa) = 
original men. 

Cal'vert. 

Cecil (ses'il). 

Leonard (len'ard) 

Susquehanna (sus'kwe-han'i). 

Annap'olis, i.e. Ann's town. 

Albemarle (al'be-marl). 

Barbadoes (bar-ba'doz). 

Og'lethorpe. 

Whitefield (whit'field). 

Frederica (fred'er-e'ka) . 

Altamaha (al'ta-ma-ha'). 



51. George Fox and the Quakers. — When the Puritans were 
coming into power in England, a man named George Fox went 
about the country, preaching to the people. He interrupted 
the preacher in the pulpit and the magistrate on the bench. 
He rebuked them for their sins. He spoke like one of the 
ancient prophets, and was without fear of man. He taught 
that there was no church except in the meeting together of 
friends, who spoke as each thought himself or herself moved 
by the spirit of God. Thus there would be no bishops, or 
priests.; no taxes for their support, and no sacraments. The 
only law was to be the law of love in their hearts. 

He taught, also, that there was no difference between men in 
rank; and thus he would not take off his hat to another, — 
no, not if it were Cromwell himself, because that would be a 
sign that he was a servant of Cromwell. Neither would he 

69 



70 DISCOVERY AND SETTLEMENT. 

call any man by a title. Other men might address Cromwell 
as '' Your Highness " ; he would use the plain " Oliver." In 
like manner he dressed himself with great j)lainness. He 
would not, by his clothes, seem to be richer or greater than 
other men. Since each man was to do what was right, as God 
might tell him, it would be wrong to force any one to obey ; and 
that would make an end of all wars, and armies, and prisons. 

Friends and Quakers. — These doctrines seemed to many like 
light let in ui^on the confusion of the time. They declared 
that Fox was right, and began to adopt his way of dress and 
speech. They called themselves Friends; but others called 
them Quakers, because, in his preaching. Fox was wont to bid 
the people quake and tremble at the word of God. 

Persecution of the Friends. — Neither the Church-of -England 
nor the Dissenters could tolerate the Friends. If the Friends 
were right, they were all wrong; and so they persecuted Fox 
and his associates, shutting them up in prison, or driving them 
from the country. When the Friends came to New England, 
the magistrates and ministers imprisoned them, beat them, 
drove them away, and even hanged some of them. The more 
the Friends were persecuted, the more their number grew, and 
the more determined were they to bear witness to the truth. 
They never resisted the force which was used against them, 
and they constantly put themselves in the way of punishment. 
Wherever they believed the Lord sent them to preach their 
doctrines, thither they went fearlessly. 

52. William Penn. — It was not poor and plain people alone 
who were Friends. Some were rich. Indeed, the very lives 
which the Friends led — lives of temperance and moderation 
and industry — kept them from being poor. Some even were 
of high rank ; and among these the most notable was William 
Penn. He was the son of an admiral in the English navy, 
and his early life was spent among noblemen, and at court. 
But he became a convert to the doctrines of the Friends. 

He adopted their dress and w^ys, spoke in their meetings, 
and used his pen in their defense. Like Fox and others, he 




WiUiam Penn. Born 1644 ; died 171.8. 



72 DISCOVERY AND SETTLEMENT. 

was fined and imprisoned. He was, however, a rich man, for 
his father had died and left him a great estate. He had 
many friends at court and in places of power. Thus he was of 
more importance than most Quakers, and not so easily perse- 
cuted. He was, besides, very wise in his dealings with others, 
and, being very generous, he constantly befriended his poorer 
brethren. 

53. New Jersey. — An opportunity occurred by which he 
became interested in affairs in America. When the Duke of 
York took possession of New Netherland, he gave the southern 
district to two Englishmen, who named it New Jersey, since one 
of them had defended the island of Jersey, in the English Chan- 
nel, in a recent war. A number of people, both from New Eng- 
land and from England, settled there. Among them were some 
Quakers. Two of these, large landowners, had a dispute and 
agreed to lay the matter before William Penn. Penn settled 
the dispute, and when one of the parties got into debt, he 
bought out his rights, in company with other creditors. 

The Occupation of New Jersey. — The result of this pur- 
chase was that West New Jersey, or West Jersey, as it was 
commonly called, came into the hands of Penn and a few other 
influential Eriends. In 1677 they began to send out colonies 
of Friends to occupy it. The colonists landed at Newcastle 
on the Delaware, moved up the river, and made their first 
settlement at Burlington. Five years later, when 
new difficulties arose, the West Jersey proprietors 
bought the territory of East Jersey. 

New Jersey and New York. — But when the King of Eng- 
land withdrew the charter from New England, and sent Sir 
Edmund Andros to be governor of New England and New 
York, he took possession of New Jersey also. In 
1702 New Jersey and New York were formed into 
one province, under one governor, although each colony had 
its own assembly. This continued for thirty-six 
years, when New Jersey was separated from New 
York, and had its own governor. 



THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 73 

54. The Founding of Pennsylvania. — When William Penn in- 
herited his father's estate, he came into possession of a claim 
for a large sum of money which his father held against the 
crown. Penn proposed to the government that he should be 
paid, not in money, but in a grant of land in America. He 
intended to send there colonies of Friends. The English colo- 
nies in America were all having difiiculties with the Indians, 
and some members of the government looked with great con- 
tempt upon the proposal to send out these non-resisting Quakers 
to face the savage Indians. But Penn prevailed and 



obtained a charter and a larore tract of land. This 



1681. 



tract consisted of forty thousand square miles lying west of 
the Delaware for five degrees of longitude, and extending north 
and south for three degrees of latitude. Penn wished to call 
it Sylvania, or Woodland ; but the king insisted on calling it 
Pennsylvania, in honor of Penn's father. 

Immigration invited. — The owner of this vast farm at once 
set about his experiments in government. He invited the aid 
of all who were ready to work with him. He offered to sell 
portions of his land to families who should emigrate, and he 
advertised his purpose far and wide. He was known beyond the 
borders of England; and, among others, a company of Germans 
bought a large tract. One of their first settlements was called 
Germantown. The Friends could only preach their doctrines 
in England. Here they meant to put them all in practice. 

Penn declared that every peaceful citizen was to be free to 
come and go, to worship God as he thought right, and to have 
a part in making the laws. When a person was tried for an 
offense, he was to be tried by a jury ; and if the offender were 
an Indian, he was to have six of his race on the jury. There 
was to be no punishment by death except for murder or treason. 
Lying was to be punished. As far as possible, disputes were 
to be settled by laying the matter before friends, and not by 
going into a court of justice. 

The Rights of Indians. — Penn meant himself to live there 
and manage his great property. He was to be governor, with 



74 



DISCOVERY AND SETTLEMENT. 



the right to appoint a deputy governor. But the people were 
to choose delegates to an Assembly and Council. The rights 
of Indians were to be respected; and they had, Penn said, 
rights to the land. King Charles had granted Pennsylvania to 
Penn. In return he was to give the king each year two beaver 
skins, and one fifth of all the gold and silver that was mined. 




Philadelphia, 1682, with Perm's House. 



But Penn declared that 
the savages who roamed 
over the country were the 
real owners of the land, 
and he meant to pay them 
also. 

The Dutch and Swedes. — In 1681 three vessels left England 
with emigrants v/ho were the first to take advantage of Penn's 
offer. The next year Penn himself sailed to his new estate 
in the ship Welcome. One hundred Friends were with him, 
nearly all of whom were old neighbors. They sailed up the 
Delaware and landed at Newcastle, October 27, 1682. Penn 
confirmed the titles of the Dutch and Swede settlers to land 



TUE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 



75 



and office, and adopted them into his colony. Then he went 
up the river to Upland, now Chester, and there held his first 
Assembly. He expected to make this place the site of his 
chief town, but, going farther up the river, he found a more 
convenient spot. 

Philadelphia. — There was a broad tongue of land lying be- 
tween two rivers, the Delaware and the Schuylkill. Upon this 
plain Penn laid out Philadelphia in broad squares, shaded by 
trees, and ordered a house built for his own use. The town, 
as first laid out, extended from river to river, and was between 
what are now Vine and South streets. 




Treaty Elm in 1800. 

55. Treaties with the Indians For two years Penn remained 

in the country, to look after his colony. His special business 
was to make friends with the Indians. A monument in Phil- 
adelphia marks the spot called by the Indians Shackamaxon, 
where, under a spreading elm, Penn is said to have made a 
formal treaty with the Indians. By this treaty he paid them 
for the land which he had taken, and made them presents. 
Keither Penn nor his companions carried any weapons, and 
the Indians laid aside their arms. It was a treaty of peace, 
and was honorably kept on both sides for sixty years. 



76 DISCOVERY AND SEWLEMENT. 

The Lenni Lenape. — The Indians of that region were the 
Delawares, or the Lenni Lenape, as they called themselves. 
They had recently been conquered by the savage Iroquois, and 
compelled by Indian usage to bear the name of " women," and 
to surrender their tomahawks. Now the Iroquois, as we have 
seen, were enemies of the French and friends of the English, so 
that the Delawares did not dare offend their neighbors. The 
Friends, on their side, by their peaceful ways and honest deal- 
ings, were able to live in harmony with the red men. 

The country about Philadelphia was exceedingly fertile. 
This fact, with the wise laws and liberal policy of Penn, made 
the colony very popular; so that when Penn returned to Eng- 

,r,r.» land fifty townships had been settled, and Philadel- 
phia had between three hundred and four hundred 
houses. In 1703 the people occupying the district known 
as the Territories and comprising what is now known as 
Delaware, separated from Pennsylvania, and had their own 
Assembly. The two colonies had, however, the same gov- 
ernor. 

56. The Calverts. — At the time when the Puritans were 
flocking to Massachusetts Bay to escape from evils in England, 
England was scarcely a more comfortable place for Koman 
Catholics, who were feared by some and hated by others. 
One of their number, George Calvert, Lord Baltimore, deter- 
mined to plant a colony in America which should serve as a 
refuge for his brethren. 

Experimental Voyages. — He tried Newfoundland, which had 
been described by voyagers as a fertile and beautiful land, 
but he found the country bleak, and sailed farther south to 
Virginia. The Assembly was sitting at Jamestown 
' when he arrived, but it did not welcome him though 
he had been an influential member of the Virginia company; 
for in Virginia, as in England, Puritans and Koman Catholics 
were equally disliked. He sailed up Chesapeake Bay, and 
was so delighted with the country that he resolved to plant 
his colony there. 



THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA, 



77 



Founding of Maryland. — King Charles I. granted him and 
his heirs a charter, in 1632, with authority to occupy what is 
now Maryland and part of Delaware. The name "Maryland" 
was given by the king in honor of his wife Henrietta Maria. 
The Baltimores were to rule there much as the king rules in 
England, with an assembly like Parliament. The laws were 
to agree with the laws of England, and nothing was to be done 
offensive to the Church 
of England. George 
Calvert died while the 
charter was in the 
king's hands; but his 
son Cecil succeeded 
him, and carried out 
his plans. 

In the autumn of 
1633 Cecil sent out, 
under his brother Leon- 
ard, the first company, 
of about three hundred 
people, who made a 
settlement, called St. 
Mary's, near the mouth 
of the Potomac River. 
The many names of 
places in Maryland be- 
ginning with " Saint " 
attest the large element of religion which entered into the 
settlement. Indeed, the zealous priests who accompanied the 
settlers looked upon the country as the land of the ^^irgin 
Mary. 

Religious Toleration. — The Calverts were wise and xar- 
sighted men. They wished to have a prosperous and peaceful 
colony, and they knew this could not be if they favored one 
religious party above another. They sent out both Protestants 
flnd Eoman Catholics, and they caused laws to be passed for- 




Cecil Calvert, Lord Baltimore. 



78 DISCOVERY AND SETTLEMENT. 

bidding persecution for religious faith. Quakers, even, were 
to have all the rights of other Englishmen. When Puritans 
in Virginia were vexed by the harsh governor, Sir William 
Berkeley, they found a hospitable refuge in Maryland. 

The colony contained many who sustained the Calverts in 

their policy, and the governor was careful not to offend the 

ruling powers in England. When Cromwell was in 

■ power, Lord Baltimore appointed a Puritan governor, 

William Stone. 

57. The mode of life in Maryland was similar to that in Vir- 
ginia. There were large plantations upon which tobacco was 
grown. Whatever the planter needed, beyond food and 
shelter, was brought from England. But after the begin- 
ning of 1700 the people began also to raise wheat like their 
northern neighbors. The country at the back of the seacoast 
was more suited to grain than to tobacco, and tobacco im- 
poverished the soil very fast. Then the Susquehanna River 
offered a natural waterway from Pennsylvania; so commerce 
sprang up. 

Towns in the Colony. — There was a greater variety of occu- 
pations and trades, and towns began to be formed. Provi- 
dence was the name of a settlement which was the center of 
the Puritan population. Afterward, when for twenty-four 
years Maryland was under royal government, the 
name was changed to Annapolis and the place made 
the capital. In 1729 Baltimore was founded, and speedily 
became one of the most important towns in the country. 

The Boundaries of Maryland were long a matter of dispute. 
The Dutch and Swedes had upon the Delaware Eiver settle- 
ments which belonged to Maryland by the charter given to 
Calvert. When the Dutch lost New Netherland, they lost 
also this part of their territory. Then Penn claimed the same 
portion under his charterj and afterward Delaware was set off 
as a separate colony. It was not until 1760 that the boundary 
dispute between Maryland and Pennsylvania was settled, and 
a careful survey begun. The northern boundary line of Mary- 



THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 79 

land has ever since been known, from its surveyors, as Masoii 
and Dixon's Line.^ 

58. The Government of Virginia When Virginia held its 

first Assembly, the colony was still under the government of 
the London Company for Virginia. That company 

was composed largely of Englishmen who opposed 
the king. As they demanded a free Parliament for England, 
so they insisted that Virginia should have its regular Assem- 
bly. One result of the conflict going on in England was an im- 
petus given to the colonization of Virginia, which was looked 
upon as a refuge from an oppressive government at home. 

In the struggle which followed, the king took away the 
charter from the company, and after that he himself appointed 
the governor of Virginia. But since the colony still 
had its Assembly, it was better off than before. The 
company, when the colony was fairly established, was more 
likely to be a hindrance than a help. No body of men, how- 
ever upright, 'could govern wisely a growing colony across the 
ocean. 

59. Plantation Life Virginia was growing rapidly. The 

settlements were at first confined to the peninsula between the 
James and the York. Here the planters lived in comfort in 
roomy houses, surrounded, for protection against the Indians, 
by palisades. Their chief business was to raise tobacco to 
send to London; for this they employed indented servants 
and African slaves. The indented servants were men and 
boys sent out from England by the company. They were 
bound out to the planters for a term of years to repay the 
expense of their passage. In 1619 twenty African slaves were 
brought into the colony ; thirty years later, there were three 
hundred. 

There were no large towns in Virginia. Each planter had 
his estate, and lived there as English gentlemen lived in 
England. He had a warehouse in which he stored his tobacco, 
and a wharf to which once a year a ship came to be loaded. 

1 Rob of the Bowl, by J. P. Kennedy, gives pictures of early Maryland life. 



80 DISCOVERY AND SEfTLEMENT. 

The ship carried tobacco to London, and brought back what- 
ever the planter needed. Not only was tobacco the staple 
product of the country, it served as currency in mercantile 
transactions. The planters kept their accounts in it; salaries 
and taxes were paid with it. The chief value of Virginia, in 
the eyes of England, was that she could furnish the mother 
country with tobacco. 

60. English Parties in Virginia Unlike the people of New 

England, the planters of Virginia were mostly Church-of- 
England men, and partisans of the king. When Charles I. 
was executed, great numbers of his friends came over 
to Virginia and began life again there. Yet there 
were many also in the colony who sympathized with Cromwell 
and the Commonwealth ; some of these had come to Virginia 
from New England. Living as these Englishmen did, each 
on his separate estate, with servants and slaves, and having 
their own Assembly, they governed themselves, and were very 
jealous of their rights. 

The Royalists. — But they were so loyal to the king that 
when Charles I. was executed, they declared it was treason to 
question the right of Charles II. to the throne. Parliament 
therefore sent a force to subdue the colony. There were some 
who favored resistance ; but wiser counsels prevailed, and the 
colony was governed by the Puritans so long as England was 
a Commonwealth. The royalist party, however, was strong, 
and it had large accessions from England, Just as thousands 
of Puritans left England for New England in the reign of 
Charles L, so thousands of royalists came over to Virginia 
when Cromwell was Protector; . it was even proposed at one 
time to set up there the banner of King Charles XL, before 
England recalled him. 

The formal name of Virginia was the Colony and Dominion 
of Virginia. When England called itself a Commonwealth, 
the royalists in Virginia spoke proudly and affectionately of 
their country as the Old Dominion of the king. There was 
great rejoicing among them when Charles II. was crowned, 



TEE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 81 

and Virginia came again under a royalist governor, Sir Wil- 
liam Berkeley. For a time the king's partisans had 
things very much their own way. The Assembly, 
instead of being reelected every two years, continued to sit 
without change. 

The same persons held office and controlled the colony. 
They came to regard the offices as belonging to them, and 
used them as a means of getting rich. The laws which 
England made to regulate trade with Virginia were very 
severe upon the planters. Every ship laden with tobacco 
had to pay a heavy duty before it left Virginia, and another 
when it reached England. By the Navigation Act the planter 
could send his tobacco to none but English ports. 

61. Bacon's Rebellion. — When the people had borne these 
evils until they seemed intolerable, a new danger arose. The 
Indians on the Potomac River were drawn into a quarrel with 
the English. What at lirst was a petty dispute 
became rapidly a general outbreak. The people, 
already discontented with Sir William Berkeley and his asso- 
ciates, found fresh cause for complaint; they said that the 
government did not protect them. 

A young planter, Nathaniel Bacon, demanded a commission 
to raise troops against the Indians. The governor refused to 
give it, and Bacon put himself at the head of a company with- 
out the governor's consent. For a summer Virginia was en- 
gaged in civil war, with 'Berkeley, representing the king, at 
the head of one party, and Bacon, representing the people, at 
the head of the other. There was some fighting, and 
Jamestown was burned. But the death of Bacon 
deprived the opposition of their leader, and the rebellion 
faded out. The rebellion had apparently accomplished noth- 
ing, but it showed the temper of the Virginia people. 

62. Growth of Virginia. — In spite of the severity of the 
English laws, Virginia steadily grew stronger and richer. 
The plantations spread farther into the interior. Each 
planter was like a governor upon his own plantation; and the 

Q 



82 



DISCOVERY AND SETTLEMENT. 



habit of ruling servants and slaves made him resolute and 
independent. All the planters together formed a class like 
the nobles in other countries. Thus in the Assembly the 
planters often found themselves upon one side, and the gov- 
.ernment and king's officers on the other. The planters learned 
more and more to act together, and to resist whatever threat- 
ened to injure their prosperity or lessen their rights.^ 





Virginia Halfi)enny. Lord Baltimore Shilling. 

Colonial Currency. 

63. Carolina. — To the south of Virginia lay a country which 
extended to the Spanish settlements in Florida. Now and 
then an adventurous Virginian planter pushed his way south- 
ward and settled on the shores of Albemarle Sound. The 
Virginian Assembly made grants of land there to emigrants ; 
they did not pay much attention to the fact that Charles I. 
had already given away the country to some English 
noblemen. These noblemen had done nothing for the 
territory except to name it Carolina, after the king, a 
name changed by the grants of Charles II. to its present form. 
The Northern Settlements. —Some New England men had 
settled on the Cape Eear River, but had become discouraged 
and gone away, leaving the clearing to some people from the 
Barbadoes Islands. When Charles II. came to the 



1643- 
1653. 



1660- 
1661. 



throne he made a fresh grant of the country to certain 
gentlemen of his court. The Proprietors, as they were 
called, appointed a governor and called an Assembly. They 

1 A readable history of the State, especially in the early period, is that by 
John Esten Cooke, Virginia, in American Commonwealths, 



THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 83 

encouraged emigration; and the two colonies, the Albemarle 
and Cape Fear, became the chief centers of population. 
For the most part, a scattered population cultivated 
small farms in a rude way. The people were sturdy and inde- 
pendent. 

The Southern Settlements. — In the southern part of Caro- 
lina the Proprietors wished to gather the settlers about 
some chief town. After ten years of experimenting, they 
fixed upon the site of the present city of Charleston.^ 
Charleston was long the extreme southern settlement. 
There was no continuous line of settlements connecting it with 
Virginia; the only travel by land was by an Indian trail ; the 
way by sea round Cape Hatteras was hazardous, and the colony 
had thus much more direct intercourse with England than it 
had with the other American colonies. 

A connection was kept up with the English settlements 
in the West Indies. The Barbadoes Islands formed a stop- 
ping place on the way from England; the Proprietors had 
established a colony there in which African slavery was a 
regular part. South Carolina was largely settled at first by 
colonists from the Barbadoes who brought this system with 
them. 

Charleston. — For many years Charleston was practically all 
of South Carolina there was, and after the back country began to 
be settled, it was governed from Charleston. In this way, there 
grew up a compact society, and the colony, unlike the others, 
was under the control of a few prominent families. The 
planters who had estates on the seacoast or in the back coun- 
try made their home in Charleston, and left their estate in 
charge of overseers. In the immediate neighborhood there 
were also plantations where the planters themselves lived, 
while the huts of their slaves formed villages about the great 
houses. 

Social Life. — Thus in Charleston and its neighborhood there 
was a rich class, enjoying one another's society and having 

1 The name as first used was Charles Town. 



84 DISCOVERT AND SETTLEMENT. 

abundant leisure. Half of the population of Charleston was 
made up of slaves who performed all the manual labor. They 
were the mechanics also. The chief product of the colony 
was rice ; but it was not sent direct from each plantation to 
England, as was the case with tobacco in Virginia. The rice 
was sold to merchants in Charleston, who shipped it and 
brought back English goods and luxuries, which they sold in 
turn to the planters. 

64. A Royal Province. — The nearness of the Spanish posses- 
sions led to many conflicts. Pirates, too, infested the coast, 
making use of the harbors and inlets. There were frequent 
wars with the Indians ; and many of the captives, especially 
in the early years of the colony, were sold into slavery. The 
troubles with Spaniards and with pirates led the English gov- 
ernment to interfere with the government conducted by the 
Proprietors. The crown bought the rights of the Proprietors, 
and, in 1729, divided Carolina into two provinces, North Caro- 
lina and South Carolina. After this the governor of each 
province was appointed by the king, while each had its 
Assembly chosen by the people. 

New Settlers. — Early in the history of South Carolina, French 
Huguenots, driven from their own country, formed settlements 
in the colony. At first the English distrusted them, and refused 
to give them the rights they themselves enjoyed. Afterward 
the colony was more liberal. It invited men of all religious 
faiths ; and many Germans came, as well as men from Scot- 
land and the north of Ireland. These last settled also in 
North Carolina. The difficulties which South Carolina had 
with the Spaniards in Florida were lessened when the country 
between began to be settled. 

65. Oglethorpe and the Founding of Georgia. — When the Caro- 
linas became provinces of the king, the country beyond the 
Savannah River was not included in South Carolina. It was 
named Georgia from George II., who was King of England at 
the time. It was in his reign that the first settlement of 
Georgia was made. 



THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 



85 



James Oglethorpe,^ a humane Englishman, was distressed by 
the miserable condition of many of his countrymen. He pitied 
especially those who were oppressed by the harsh laws against 
debtors ; and he determined to make a colony in America, 
where they could begin life anew. He formed an association 
which was to be governed by a Board of Trustees, and ob- 
tained from the king a charter, which gave them possession of 
Georgia for twenty-one 
years. 

The Wesleys and 
Whitefield. — He select- 
ed the best 
colonists he 
could lind, and sailed 
for Charleston. Thence 
he carried his company 
to the Savannah B-iver, 
and laid the founda- 
tions of the city of Sa- 
vannpJi. He returned 
to England for more 
colonists ; and with, 
him, when he came 
back, were Charles 
Wesley, who was his 
secretary, and John 
Wesley, who came as a 
missionary to the Indians. Afterward George Whitefield came 
for a time. These were famous preachers, with whom the 
Methodist movement began in England. They did not stay 
long in Georgia, but they attracted attention to the colony. 

Enlargement of Georgia. — Large numbers of people joined 
the colony from England and from Germany. Oglethorpe 
was governor, and showed the greatest energy in planning for 




James Oglethorpe. Born 1689 ; died 1785. 



1 See Life of General Oglethorpe by Henry Bruce in Makers of America 
series. 



86 DISCOVERY AND SETTLEMENT. 

the welfare of the settlements. He was especially desirous of 
bringing out emigrants who were familiar with different forms 
of industry. He occupied new points at Darieii, Augusta, and 
Frederica, on an island at the mouth of the Altamaha. 

In 1739 war broke out between England and Spain, and the 
American settlements at the South were in great danger. A 
fleet of Spanish vessels with five thousand men appeared off the 
coast and threatened Frederica. General Oglethorpe, with only 
eight hundred men, attacked the invaders and saved the colony. 
At the end of twenty-one years the Trustees found themselves 
beset with difficulties in governing a distant colony. They gave 
up their possessions to the crown, and Georgia was 
' ruled like other parts of America, — by a governor 
appointed by the king, and an Assembly chosen by the people. 

QUESTIONS. 

What did George Fox do and teach ? What was his success in making 
converts ? How did the Church of England men and the Dissenters treat 
the Friends, and with what result ? Who was William Penn ? How did 
he become interested in this country ? When the Friends sent colonies 
to this country, where did they settle ? What did Andros do when he 
became governor ? What was the final settlement of the New York and 
New Jersey affair ? 

What grant was made to Penn, and why ? What did Penn do with his 
land ? What rules were adopted for the government of the colony ? 
How did Penn treat the Indians ? What was to be given to the king each 
year ? Why ? What emigrants came in 1681 and 1682 ? What settle- 
ment was made, and where ? What is said of the tree shown in the 
picture ? Of what tribe were the Indians, and why were they so friendly ? 
What is said of the condition of the colony when Penn left it ? 

Why did Lord Baltimore sail for America ? What difficulties did he 
find in selecting a place of settlement ? Give an account of the charter 
granted. Where was a colony planted, and by whom ? What v^^as the 
reason for naming the country Maryland ? What arrangements were 
made by the Calverts in regard to religion ? What troubles arose ? How 
did Lord Baltimore avoid trouble with Cromwell ? How long did the 
Calvert family hold control of the colony ? Why were there more towns 
in Maryland than in Virginia ? What is said of the boundary troubles ? 
How and when were these difficulties finally settled ? 



THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 87 

What is meant by the term, Old Dominion ? Why did Virginia find it 
easy to have an assembly ? How did the company lose its charter ? the 
effect? Describe the planter's life, and his mode of doing business. 
Why was Virginia more loyal than New England ? How was the feeling 
shown ? What was done by Parliament ? What is said of the office 
holders? How did the Navigation Laws affect Virginia? What out- 
break in 1676 ? What brought on Bacon's rebellion ? What is said of the 
prosperity of Virginia ? 

How came the Carolinas to be so named ? What grants of the country 
were made ? What was finally done with it ? When was Charleston 
founded ? What connection did the colony have with northern colonies ? 
What islands in the Atlantic had close connection with South Carolina ? 
How did this city differ from others farther to the north ? What was 
the staple product of the colony ? What troubles did the colonists 
have ? What did the British government finally do ? When was Caro- 
lina divided into two provinces ? What new emigrants came to North 
Carolina ? AVho settled the country between South Carolina and Florida ? 
What was his object ? When was Savannah founded ? Who came as 
emigrants to Oglethorpe's colony ? The picture shows him to be a 
soldier; how did he prove that he was so? What difficulties did the 
Proprietors have, and what was finally done ? 



SEARCH QUESTIONS. 

What is the meaning of the name, Philadelphia ? Name some places 
in Maryland beginning with "St." Where does Whitefield lie buried ? 



SUGGESTIONS FOR LITERARY TREATMENT. 
Composition : 

A contrast between Massachusetts Bay Colony and Virginia Colony, 
7>ijbate: 

Mesolved, That Bacon's rebellion was justifiable. 



CHAPTER VI. 



THE STRUGGLE FOR POSSESSION OF A CONTINENT. 



Cordon (cor'don). A chain. 

Alleghany (al'e-ga'ny). 

Schenectady (ske-nek'ta-de). 

Armistice (ar'mis-tis). A cessa- 
tion from fighting, by agreement 
of the parties in conflict. 

Monongahela. 

Kanawha (ka-na'wa). 

Du Quesne (du kan'). 

Militia (mi-lish'a). A body of citi- 



zen soldiery, trained to bear 
arms, but called out for ser- 
vice only in special emergencies ; 
distinguished from professional 
soldiers, sometimes called regu- 
lars. 

Minas (me'nas). 

Montcalm (mont-kam'). 

Pon'tiac. 

Bouquet (boo-ka'). 



66. The Difference between the English and the French Settle- 
ments. — By natural boundaries, and by a cordon of military 
posts, the French country of Canada and the Great West was 
separated from the northern English possessions. The Alle- 
ghany and Cumberland Mountains and the Blue Ridge formed 
another barrier, extending far down toward the Gulf of Mexico. 
The English occupied the long strip of Atlantic coast, and their 
settlements at one point and another brought them into the 
neighborhood of the French. 

There was, however, this difference between the occupation 
of the land by the two nations. The English planted colo- 
nies of men and women who made homes for themselves, 
tilled the soil, carried on trade, had their schools and 
churches, formed towns, and took an active part in the gov- 
ernment; as the land was taken up, newcomers pushed on into 
the wilderness, felling the forests, and establishing new set- 
tlements. The French, on the other hand, set up, as we have 
seen, trading posts, forts, and mission stations. 

About each of these widely separated places gathered a few 



EENOH POSSESSIONS 

AMERICA AT THE Quebec, 

ENCH AND INDIAN WAR. 

NiAL Charter Claims. 
J 00 Miles 

L. 




^ NEW ENGLAND 

AND 

f^^A/y y NEW NETHERLAND 

5 ^wfetow^" igTpe May Twice the Scale oftMlarge Map. 



THE STRUGGLE FOR A CONTINENT. 



89 




The Rock of Quebec. 



families, but for the most part the colonists were made up of 
men, adventurous, brave, and restless; they plunged into the 
woods and consorted with the Indians, but there was little of 
that steady industry which made the English settlements 
strong, and there was scarcely a sign of self-government. The 
army was the power by which the governor ruled, and the 
governor was an officer of the French king. 

The English, the French, and the Indians. — The English colo- 
nies, especially the Puritan ones of the North, were very sus- 
picious of the French settlements. They had an English and a 
Protestant dislike of the Roman Catholic French; besides, they 
wanted the country which the French were holding, and the 
entire control of the fishing ground off the Gulf of St. Lawrence. 
The Indians, although they were opposed to all Europeans, 
feared and hated the English most. The English treated them 
with contempt. The farms of the colonists spoiled their hunt- 
ing ground and as fast as a colony grew it crowded them out. 

The French, with their scattered forts and trading posts, 
did not interfere so much with the Indians, and they adapted 
themselves more readily to Indian ways, living with them 
more as companions. Whenever there was war between the 



90 DISCOVERY AND SETTLEMENT. 

French and the English, many Indians fought, after their own 
fashion, on one side or the other. 

With each war between France and England, the contest for 
supremacy in America grew more intense. To the English 
colonies it was not a matter of European politics, but of the 
safety of their homes. The danger from Indian attack was 
greater when the savages were led and encouraged by French 
soldiers. The French, with their military organization, had a 
great advantage over the English in any campaign. They were 
soldiers, bred to lighting. The English, for the most part, were 
farmers, who fought only when the war was brought close to 
them, and then with little military organization or discipline. 




The Attack on Schenectady.^ 

67. King William's War and Queen Anne's War. — There had 
been scattered fighting since 1689, when the Iroquois fell' 
upon La Chine and committed the most terrible massacre that 
Canada had ever known. The French and Illinois Indians 
retaliated by destroying Schenectady the next year. A party 

1 So little did the garrison fear an attack that they posted two snow images 
for sentinels. 



THE STRUGGLE FOR A CONTINENT. 91 

of French and Indians also attacked Deertield in Massachu- 
setts. After killing many men, women, and children, and 
burning the village, they carried the remaining inhab- 
itants into captivity. The two periods of lighting 
were called after the sovereigns of England then reigning — 
King William's War and Queen Anne's War. 

68. King George's War. — But in 1744 a series of conflicts 
began which lasted with intervals for nearly twenty years, until 
the great question whether the French or the English were to 
be masters of the continent was settled. The first important 
movement resulted in the capture of Louisburg, on 

Cape Breton Island. The French had made this 
strongly fortified place a means of controlling the fishing 
ground in the neighborhood ; and as it was captured by a ^ew 
England expedition, aided by British ships, the achievement 
was received with enthusiasm by the colonies and with aston- 
ishment in Europe. 

The war of which this action was a part is known as King 
George's War, and came to an end in 1748. In the treaty of 
peace, Louisburg was restored to the French, to the bitter dis- 
appointment of New England. The colonies seemed to have 
gained nothing by the victory except a heavy debt, which, 
however, was soon reimbursed by Parliament, the remembrance 
of glory, and an increased confidence in their soldiers. The 
peace was of short duration. It was rather an armistice, dur- 
ing which both parties were making ready for a final contest. 

Acadia. — The English sent out a large colony to Acadia, and 
founded the town of Halifax. The French strengthened their 
settlements in the same country. The English power lay in 
its occupation of the land by people rather than by forts. 
While the French were thinking to fence off the western 
country by a line of forts, the English were slowly moving 
their frontier line by an irregular march of settlers. They 
were organizing emigration companies also. 

69. The Ohio Company was formed in 1748 by gentlemen in 
Virginia and Maryland. They obtained from the king a grant 



92 



DISCOVERY AND SETTLEMENT, 



LAKE EUTE 



NEW 



of five hundred thousand acres, chiefly on the south side of 
the Ohio River, between the Monongahela and Kanawha. It 
was their intention to connect this country by roads with the 
two colonies. In the years immediately following they made 

surveys and established a few settle- 
ments. One of the surveyors was a Vir- 
ginian, named George Washington.^ 

Washington's Journey. — When ru- 
mors came that the French were en- 
croaching on this territory with their 
forts. Governor Dinwiddle of Vir- 
ginia sent Washington to look into 
the matter. He brought back such 
a report of the activity of the French 
that the Virginia Assembly at once 
took measures to build a fort at the 
junction of the Monongahela and 
Allegheny. Suddenly the 
French appeared upon the 
scene, drove away the English, and 
finished for themselves the fort, 
which they named Fort Du Quesne. 
70. The French and Indian War. — 
This was just before war was again 
formally declared be- 
tween England and 
France, and the colonies 
were at once aroused. 
They sent delegates to 
Albany, to a congress 
called to consult upon 
the best way of resist- 
Braddock's Route. -^^^ ^^^ French. Here 

they met also representatives from the Indians of the Six 

Nations. William Johnson, an Englishman of great influence 

1 Thackeray's The Virginians introduces Washington as a young man. 




THE STRUGGLE FOR A CONTINENT. 93 

among the Indians, urged these Indians to join them against 
their old enemy the French. 

The English government sent out troops and vessels to Amer- 
ica, and appointed a commander-in-chief, General Edward 
Braddock. Braddock set out from Fort Cumberland, in Mary- 
land. He had with him English regulars, some colonial troops, 
and a few friendly Indians. Washington was on his staff. 
Braddock marched slowly, stopping to make better roads and 
erect earthworks. He followed the methods of marching and 
fighting to which he was used, and paid no attention to the 
advice of Washington and others who knew the ways of the 
country. The French, with their Indian allies, kept them- 
selves informed of every movement that Braddock made. 

Braddock's Defeat. — The English general was cautiously 
moving along and preparing to lay siege to the fort, accord- 
ing to the regular rules, when suddenly, soon after crossing a 
ford, his army was surprised by Indians, and by French who 
fought in the manner of Indians. The English were utterly 
defeated. Braddock was mortally wounded. He 
transferred his command to Washington, and died V755' 
overwhelmed with remorse. Washington led back 
the broken army; and the French and Indians followed up 
their victory by laying waste the back country of Virginia, 
Maryland, and Pennsylvania. 

The disaster to Braddock's army was terrible, but it had an 
important influence for good. It taught the colonies to rely 
on their own soldiers rather than on British regulars. They 
began at once to organize a militia, which was under training 
upon the battle field during the remainder of the war. This 
war is known in America as the French and Indian War.^ 

71. The Expulsion of the Acadians. — While Braddock was 
marching against Fort Du Quesne, another force was engaged 

in reducing the French forts in Acadia. That name was then 

4 
1 Parkman's narration of Braddock's defeat is contained in No, 7 of His- 
torical Classic Readings. Cooper's The Last of the Mohicans has its scene* 
iaid in the French and Indian War. 



94 DISCOVEBY AND SEHTLEMENT. 

applied to what* is now Nova Scotia and a large part of New 
Brunswick. The forts guarded the neck of land which con- 
nects the two portions. The English held Nova Scotia, but 
they also claimed part of the rest of Acadia. The peninsula 
was occupied partly by French and partly by English farmers, 
but the French were more numerous. There were prosperous 
Frencn settlements about the Bay of Minas, under English 



'^ GULF OF S T. LAWRJSNCE^ 



\\^ ^^,% ST JOHN'S 







.y-' Ciaii. 



5>^ , ,A.?.^ 



^;^ *-' . » :>-^ 






.^^ 



V j^y ^ >i ' t 'T 



C-, -^ J 



./^ 



' / ^ ^ ^ ^ 



V ' ^ 



C.Sable 



> 



Map of Acadia. 

law, but not far from the French forts. Most of th? French 
Acadians were simple-minded, peaceable people, who desired 
only to live undisturbed upon their farms. But among them 
were some who were bitterly hostile to the English, and took 
every opportunity to favor the French and menace the English 
settlement at Halifax. 

When the war broke out, the danger from these increased. 
At last the English authorities determined to solve the diffi- 
culty by removing all the French families out of the country. 



THE STRUGGLE FOR A CONTINENT. 95 

It was difficult to make distinction between tlie peaceable 
settlers and those who caused disturbance, since these were 
sheltered by the others. The authorities called all the men 
and boys to assemble in their churches to hear a notice read. 
Then, when the churches were full, companies of soldiers sur- 
rounded them. The people within the churches were 
prisoners, and were told that they and their wives i^lc'c' 
and children were all to be sent away. The poor 
French had no arms, and could make no resistance. The 
English made haste and crowded them into ships to send 
them away to the other colonies. In spite of precautions,, 
families were separated, and great misery fell on all the 
people. The villages were laid waste, and about six thousand 
persons were homeless.^ 

72. The Seven Years' War. — Everywhere, save in Acadia, the 
French seemed to have the advantage. There, too, at the end 
of 1757, the English were in great peril, for a powerful French 
fleet was gathering at Louisburg. This fleet threatened, not 
Halifax alone, but New England also. All along the frontier 
of the middle colonies the English settlers were flying before 
the French and Indians. 

But in the long run it is not armies that conquer, but people 
behind the armies. The French had this disadvantage, that 
almost all their men and supplies had to be brought from 
France. They had no great farms in America, and no flourish- 
ing colonies. They had soldiers and generals, but these had to 
be fed and supported. The English, on the other hand, while 
sending over troops from England, depended most on the strong 
colonies in America. These colonies had for a hundred years 
been growing rich, independent, and self-supporting. 

The European Conflict. — Moreover, the contest in America 
was only part of a great war in which nearly all the nations 
of Europe were involved. The war, covering the period 
1756-1763, is known in history as the Seven Years' War. 

1 The expulsion of the Acadians gave rise to Longfellow's well-known poem 
Evang€H7ie. 



96 DISCOVER r AND SETTLEMENT. 

France, Austria, and Eussia were upon one side; Englanci 
and Prussia on the other. Two men were conspicuous in 
the struggle: Frederick the Great of Prussia, a military 
genius, and William Pitt, a masterly English statesman. 
Pitt saw more clearly than the king and other Englishmen 
what was needed in America, and how the struggle with 
France there was a part of the great world conflict that was 
going on. He was Secretary of State and the foremost man 
in the kingdom ; it was his genius that directed the war to a 
brilliant close. He had faith in the colonies, and his policy 
was a generous one. 

The Policy of Pitt. — England was to furnish arms and am- 
munition. The colonies were to enlist the men, clothe them, 
and pay them. England was to provide the generals and 
division officers; but the colonial troops might choose their 
own colonels and subordinate officers. The generals and naval 
commanders whom Pitt appointed were abler men than those 
who had heretofore been sent to America. A new campaign 
was planned; but the points of attack were the same, for the 
strong points of the French position were Louisburg, Ticon- 
deroga, Crown Point, and Fort Du Quesne. 

The Campaigns. — The first move was by a combined naval 
and land attack under Sir Jeffrey Amherst against Louisburg. 

In less than two months this important place was 
J. ^ ' captured, and six thousand prisoners taken. New 

England was overjoyed that this prize was again in her 

possession. The movement against Ticonderoga at the same 

-j^cr. time resulted in a serious defeat of the English; 

but Fort Du Quesne was taken, and renamed Fort 

Pitt. Fort Frontenac was destroyed and Fort Niag- 
ara captured. Then Amherst t^ok the field at Lake George, 
and drove the French from Ticonderoga and Crown Point. 
This brilliant series of successes was due partly to the energy 
of Pitt, partly to the steady decrease of the French resources. 
France was becoming nerveless under a corrupt government, 
and gave its American settlements but little substantial aid. 



THE smUGGLE FOR A CONTINENT. 



97 



73. The Capture of Quebec. — The French had been crowdea 
back into Canada, and tlie next summer the English prepared 
to advance upon Quebec, the stronghold of the country. From 
Louisburg a fleet bearing eight thousand men moved up the 
St. Lawrence and dropped anchor before Quebec. Outside the 
fortifications on that great rock, Montcalm lay with his army. 
The commander of the English forces was a brave young gen- 
eral, James Wolfe, who 
had taken part in the 
siege of Louisburg. He 
was the idol of his sol- 
diers, but he was of 
feeble frame, wasted by 
disease. He saw before 
him the frowning cliff 
of Quebec, and he knew 
that every point was 
guarded by the enemy. 
He made one desperate 
and disastrous attempt 
to capture the outworks 
near Montmorenci. The 
failure proved that the 
only chance lay in sur- 
prising the enemy and 
reaching the heights 
from the river. 

Wolfe's Stratagem. — 
Accordingly Wolfe divided his army. . He left a portion to 
make a feint of attacking Quebec upon the north side, where 
the St. Charles Eiver separates the rock from the mainland. 
Then he sent his ships and transports up the St. Lawrence, 
while he marched the remainder of his army along the south- 
ern bank out of reach of the enemy's guns. When he had 
passed the town, he reembarked his soldiers on board the 
vessels, and waited his opportunity. About two hours before 




Wolfe's Cove. 



98 



DISCOVERY AND SETVLEMENT. 



daybreak, thirty barges, bearing sixteen hundred soldiers, 
dropped silently down the stream to a cove where a narrow 
path led up a wooded defile in the steep hillside. 

Sentinels challenged the boats at one or two points as they 
passed down ; but they were answered in Erench, and made to 
believe that they were boats which were expected with provi- 
sions for the besieged town. Some of the men sprang ashore and 
seized the sentinel at the foot of the pass. Then they scram- 
bled up the height and captured the guard which was posted 
at the head. The rest of the troops climbed rapidly 
175Q ' "^P ^^^® pass. The ships dropped down the stream 
with reenforcements J and when the sun arose the 
British army was drawn up in line upon the Plains of Abra- 
ham behind the town, and partly intrenched. 

The Battle of the Plains of Abraham. — The French looking 
out from the walls could scarcely believe their eyes. Mont- 
calm and the bulk of the 
French army were upon 
the other side of the St. 
Charles Eiver, where they 
had been stationed in a 
fortified camp which ex- 
tended along the river, to 
prevent the English from 
apx)roaching the town 
from that quarter. He 
brought them hastily 
over, led them through 
the town to the plain, and 
at once attacked the English. The English met the attack 
with coolness ; they waited until the French were within forty 
yards ; then they fired. 

The ranks of the French were at once broken, and Wolfe, 
dashing to the front, led his men in a fierce charge. The 
French, exhausted by their long march, turned and fled, and 
the English drove them behind the walls of the town. 




THE STRUGGLE FOR A CONTINENT, 99 

Deaths of Wolfe and Montcalm. — Almost at the same mo- 
ment both Wolfe and Montcalm fell, mortally wounded. 
Wolfe lived to hear that the French were everywhere giving 
way, and to issue his final orders. Montcalm, borne to the 
hospital, sank into despair, comforted only by the thought 
that he should not live to see the surrender of Quebec. He 
died of a broken heart as much as of his wounds. The French, 
shut up in the town, their brave commander gone, laid down 
their arms, and the English took possession of Quebec. The 
diminished French army gathered at Montreal. Some fighting 
followed; but the English brought their forces from Oswego, 
from Crown Point, and from Quebec; and September, 1760, 
Montreal surrendered.^ 

74. A treaty of peace was signed at Paris early in 1763. 
France gave up to Great Britain Canada and all her posses- 
sions east of the Mississippi, except two little islands near 
Newfoundland, which she kept for fishing stations; except, 
also, New Orleans and the district about it, Spain, the ally 
of France, gave up Florida to Great Britain. On the same 
day France secretly made over to Spain all that she claimed 
under the name of Louisiana, and also New Orleans, and the 
district about it. 

75. Pontiac's War. — New France disappeared from the map 
of North America, and England was supreme save in a vaguely 
known region to the west of the Mississippi which Spain 
nominally held. But the French inhabitants remained in 
Canada; and in the west, although the forts had passed into 
English hands, the traders and traffickers were French. The 
Indians, meanwhile, were not ready to see the country which 
they regarded as their own transferred by a stroke of the pen 
from one European power to another. It was one thing to 
have the French trading among them; another to have the 
hated English occupying their lands. 

A remarkable man named Pontiac, an Ottawa chief, now 

1 The war which closed with the surrender of Montreal is graphically nar- 
rated by Parkman in his Montcalm and Wolfe. 



100 DISCOVERY AND SETTLEMENT. 

made a final stand against the power which threatened the 
Indian race. He succeeded in forming a league of almost all the 
tribes, though Johnson, who had been made Sir William, pre- 
vented the greater part of the Six iSTations from joining Pon- 
tiac. The Indians captured and destroyed eight of the twelve 
forts, but failed in their attempt upon the important posts of 
Detroit and Fort Pitt, now Pittsburg. 

Rogers and Bouquet. — For three years they waged war on 

the frontier; but the English were led by two notable men, 

Major Kobert Eogers and Colonel Henry Bouquet, 

and, at last, so completely did they break the power 

of the tribes, that Pontiac and other chiefs met Johnson at 

Oswego, and entered into a treaty of peace with the English.^ 

1 The most thorough and absorbing account of this war is Parkmau's Con- 
spiracy of Pontiac. 

QUESTIONS. 

What are natural boundaries, and what ones separated the English 
from the French ? What trade was there in the French possessions 
which they wished to keep ? How did the French and Enghsh differ in 
race, religion, and politics ? What special dishke did the New England 
people have towards the French ? Through whom did the furs of the 
North and West come to New York ? Who had built La Chine ? How 
did the French avenge the attack on La Chine ? Who was Fronte- 
nac ? 

In what way were the French a source of danger to the English colo- 
nists ? How was it that the French were better soldiers than the Eng- 
lish ? Name the limits in time of King William's War ; of Queen Anne's 
War. Did the French give these names ? Why was an attack made on 
Louisburg? What was done with Louisburg ? How did the English 
attempt to gain possession of the country ? the French ? What was the 
period of King George's War ? of the French and Indian War ? How 
happened Washington to have anything to do with Fort Du Quesne ? 
What council was held ? What was the plan of campaign ? Tell the 
story of Braddock's defeat. 

Why were regular troops poorly fitted for Indian warfare ? Where 
was Acadia ? Describe the country and its inhabitants. Why were the 
Acadians not allowed to remain upon their farms ? Describe the action 
of the English authorities. What became of the people that were forced 



THE STRUGGLE FOR A COJSITINENT. 101 

from their home ? What was the Seven Years' War in Europe ? What 
two men stand out in the great struggle ? 

What was the condition of the French in 1758 ? the English ? Who 
was William Tilt ? What did he do to carry on the war ? What was 
the plan of campaign ? What was the result ? Who took command 
of the expedition from Louisburg ? Describe the man. What was the 
result of the first attack on Quebec ? Give an account of the change of 
plan, the surprise, and the battle. Tell the story of Wolfe and Montcalm. 
When did Montreal surrender ? 

By the treaty of 1763 what territory was given up by France, and what 
was retained ? How did the Indians look upon these changes ? Who 
was Pontiac, and what were his plans ? What other Indian chief had 
formed a similar plot, and with what result ? What were Pontiac's 
first successes ? Who opposed him ? What prevented the Iroquois from 
joining the other tribes ? How did the war end ? What three English- 
men were conspicuous in Pontiac's War ? 



SEARCH QUESTIONS. 

Who built Fort Necessity ? Give the story connected with this fort. 
What events in Europe were connected with King William's War ? 
Queen Anne's War ? King George's War ? By what name was each of 
these wars known in Europe ? What lolace has been called the Gibraltar 
of America ? When was held the first American congress ? Where was 
it held, and what colonies sent delegates to it? What became of the 
Acadians after their dispersion ? What well-known Acadian names are 
to be found and where ? Who commanded the expedition against Louis- 
burg? What was the title of William Pitt after he was raised to the 
peerage ? What poem did Wolfe recite as he was rowed up the river to 
Wolfe's cove ? 



SUGGESTIONS FOR LITERARY TREATMENT. 

Compositions : 

The surprise of Schenectady. 

The attack on Deerfield. 

Describe the burning of the village of Grand Pr6 and the scenes ac* 
companying it. 

Contrast the characters of King Philip and Pontiac. 

Debate : 

Resolved, That the English were justified in removing the Acadians. 




G-eorge WasMj „ nn 

Born Pebruary 22, 1732 1 died December 14, 1799. 

102 



BOOK I. 

ESTABLISHMENT OP THE UNION. 



CHAPTER I. 



THE THIRTEEN ENGLISH COLONIES. 



Dress'er. A cupboard, or set of 
shelves, for holding plates and 
dishes. 

Faneuil (Fan 'el, or, as old-fash- 
ioned people in Boston pronounce 
it, Fiin'el). Peter Faneuil was 
of a Huguenot family. 

Privateer'. A private vessel fitted 
out for war purposes. 



Quilting Bee. A company of neigh- 
bors met to make bedquilts for 
the family inviting them. 

Sher'iff. An officer of the shire or 
county, who executes the orders 
of the court. 

Back'woodsmen. People living in 
the wilderness, away from settle- 
ments. 



1. The Settlements on the Atlantic Coast. — When the French 
lost control of that portion of North America which they had 
explored and had begun to colonize, there were thirteen sepa- 
rate English colonies which lay along the Atlantic coast. The 
strip of the continent which they occupied, except in southern 
Georgia, was separated from the interior by a mountain bar- 
rier. This barrier was not far from three hundred miles in 
width and covered with a dense forest in which the Indian 
might at any time be met. Here and there were trails through 
gaps in the ridge, but to follow these trails was a matter of 
great difficulty and peril. Only one really broad valley, that 
of the Mohawk, opened a way, but the river was not naviga- 
ble for large craft, and the region through which it passed 
was held by the Mohawk tribe of the Iroquois, the most 
powerful body of Indians east of the Mississippi. 

103 



104 ESTABLISHMENT OF THE UNION. 

The great natural entrance to the interior of the continent 
was by the broad river St. Lawrence and the chain of great 
lakes. On the other hand, the seacoast along which the 
English dwelt had good harbors, and there was a constant 
passage back and forth between the new World and the Old. 
Thus the people who lived in English settlements kept up a 
busy connection with England, buying much of what they 
needed in the old country and sending over their own prod- 
ucts, especially tobacco and lumber. Moreover, the easiest 
way of going from one colony to another was by vessels along 
the coast, and in this way, and because of the extensive fish- 
ing interests, especially in New England, which was near the 
grea,t fishing grounds, the people were largely a seafaring 
people. 

Distribution of Population. — There were at this time not far 
from sixteen liundred thousand persons living in the thirteen 
colonies, about equally divided between the colonies north 
and south of Mason and Dixon's Line; about one fourth of 
the whole population consisted of negro slaves, and of these 
three fourths lived in the Southern colonies, the remainder 
being chiefly house servants in the North. The whites were 
for the most part of English blood, and the English language 
was the common speech; the chief exception was to be found 
in a considerable body of Germans in Pennsylvania and a 
smaller number of descendants of the Dutch in New York 
and New Jersey. There were French Huguenots in small 
numbers in most of the colonies, and notably in the Carolinas. 
They all lived under the English law, and much the largest 
part was of the Protestant faith. All the colonies had thus a 
common likeness, but there was a difference in the character of 
each. This character was determined by the kind of soil on 
which the colony was planted, by the people who formed it, 
their origin, their occupation, and their way of thinking about 
religion and government. 

2. Life in Massachusetts. — Massachusetts was the most 
northern and eastern colony. It then included wliat is now 



THE THIRTEEN ENGLISH COLONIES. 105 

the State of Maine. It had a long seacoast with many excel- 
lent harbors; the interior was covered with dense forests. 
The soil was not very productive; but the land was divided 
into small farms, which by hard labor were made to yield an 
abundance. The people of the colony were descendants mainly 
of Englishmen who had come over in the first ten years after 
Winthrop and his company landed. They were farmers, who 
raised, besides what tbey needed themselves, hay, grain, and 
cattle. They exported these to the Southern colonies and to 
the West Indies. 

They were fishermen. A figure of a codfish hangs in the hall 
of the Massachusetts House of Representatives. It is a sign 
of what, with the whale fishery, was once the greatest source 
of wealth in the colony. Tliey were shipbuilders and sailors. 
Their ships carried goods back and forth between the colonies 
and between Europe and America; tJiey even carried goods 
from one port of Europe to another. 

They were mechanics also. They built sawmills and grist- 
mills by the banks of streams. They set up blacksmiths' 
forges, not only to shoe their horses, but to make tires for 
wagon wheels. They were coopers, and made barrels in which 
to pack fish. They made rope for their vessels. They had 
tanyards where they dressed leather. On all sides was the 
busy hum of industry. Moreover, these various occupations 
were not very carefully separated; the same man might be by 
turns, farmer, fisherman, seaman, and mechanic. 

Mode of Life and Domestic Customs. — In the country, people 
bought few things and hired very little labor. The new settler 
cleared a place in the forest, and built his house of logs, stop- 
ping the chinks with clay; by and by, as he grew more pros- 
perous, he built a frame house. The two principal rooms in 
his house were the kitchen and the best room. In the kitchen 
was a great chimney, with a fireplace so large that there was 
room within it for seats, where the family gathered in the 
cold winter evenings. They burned huge logs which had been 
cut in the woods and hauled on sleds. 



106 ESTABLISHMENT OF THE UNION. 

The cooking was done over a wood fire. An iron crane 
swung in the fireplace, and pothooks hung from the crane. 
The pots which iiung from the hooks held the vegetables and 
the salt pork which were boiled for the dinner. It was seldom 
that the family had fresh meat, except when they shot or 
trapped game. They baked bannocks — flat cakes of rye or 
Indian meal — over the hot ashes on the hearth, and in the 
better houses a brick oven was built in the chimney. This 
was filled with hot wood coals ; and when it was thoroughly 
heated, the coals were swept out and bread or beans set to 
bake. They used wooden platters for the most part, with a 
few pewter dishes which stood in a shining row on the dresser. 

In the kitchen stood the spinning wheel, with which the 
women spun the wool and flax for family use. The loom for 
weaving was usually kept in another room. The best room 
was rarely used by the family. It was kept for company and 
special occasions. The floor was sprinkled with fine sand, and 
figures were traced on it like the figures in a modern carpet. 
Brass andirons shone in the fireplace, which in summer was 
.filled with the green tops of asparagus. 

Social Habits and Distinctions of Rank. — Where all worked 
with their hands there was little difference in social rank. 
People came together for a house raising or harvest, for corn 
husking or a quilting bee. The family at whose house they 
met provided good things to eat and drink, and the day ended 
with a frolic — blindman's buff, fox and geese, and other 
sports. People knew each other familiarly in both work and 
play. 

There were some distinctions made. The minister was the 
great man of the place. He had his farm, like others, and 
worked with his hands ; but he was looked up to as a man of 
learning and piety. He was a college-bred man, and often 
prepared the boys of his parish for college. He was the leader 
of the church; and the church was the highest institution in 
the colony. In the church, people were placed according to 
their dignity. The deacons sat in front, near the pulpit. The 



THE THIRTEEN ENGLISH COLONIES. 107 

minister's family, the magistrates, and the chief farmers had 
the best seats given them. Often families were angry because 
they were not given seats as good as they thought they should 
have.^ Except in one or two large towns, the only church 
was what is now known as the Congregational. 

Civil Government. — However lonely separate farms might 
be, each was included in some town.^ The meeting house was 
at the center of the town, and there also were the country 
store and the blacksmith's shop. The schoolhouse was some- 
times there ; but that was built in the place most convenient 
for the families whose children went to it. Once a year, at 
least, a town meeting was held. The men chose the officers 
of the town for the next year and decided all questions which 
came up about the affairs of the town, such as schools, roads, 
and taxes. 

They also chose persons to represent the town in the Great 
and General Court, which met at Boston. Thus the people 
discussed the affairs of the whole colony as well as those of 
the town. Their representatives, when they went to Boston, 
knew how their neighbors felt and thought about public affairs. . 
The town meetings of Boston were especially important, be- 
cause that was the chief town and the seat of government. 
They were held in Faneuil Hall, — a building given by Peter 
Faneuil, a citizen of Boston. In the town meeting the people 
learned to govern themselves. Every voter used his vote. 
He knew the rules of debate, and he made his opinion known. 
There was free discussion, and the people were quick to learn 
the meaning of every law which was passed. 

1 lu college, students were arranged in the catalogue according to their 
social position, and had corresponding rights and privileges. Yale College 
adopted the alphabetical order in 17G8, and Harvard followed five years later, 

2 The town in New England differs from the tov/nship of the West, of which 
an explanation will be found on p. 219. Geographically, the boundaries of a 
New England town are irregular, being determined partly by natural objects, 
partly by surveys made from time to time to fix the limits of grants of land or 
settlements made by the first inhabitants. Its origin was in the company of 
people who formed a church, and were set off thus from similar companies. 
But a town once formed, other churches might be formed in the same town. 

I 



108 



ESTABLISHMENT OF WIE UNION. 




Faneuil Hall, 1763. 

Country and Town Life. — There was a marked difference 
between the life of the merchant class in the towns and that 
of the farmers. Spacious houses, often of brick, stood in 
large gardens and were furnished well. The growth of cities 
and towns in the last sixty years has swept away most of 
these, but a few still remain, and have even served as models 
for houses now building, which are said to be in colonial style.* 
The people who lived in them dressed richly and lived in 
comfort. The royal governor and the officers of the crown 
in Boston formed a miniature court about which the richer 
folk gathered. 

3. Life in Other New England Colonies. — What was true of 
Massachusetts was true also, in the main, of the other colonies 

1 A good example of this may be seen iff the well-known Craigie House in 
Cambridge, once Washington's headquarters, and afterwards the residence of 
the poet Longfellow. Many new houses in the neighborhood are in architec- 
tural harmony with it. 



TUE THIRTEEN ENGLISH COLONIES. 109 

of New England, New Hampshire, Connecticut, and Rhode 
Island. Vermont at this time was a sparsely settled country 
claimed both by New Hampshire and New York, and witli a 
good many settlers from Connecticut ; Maine, as we have said, 
was a province of Massachusetts. The forests of Maine and 
New Hampshire afforded lumber for export, and the seaports 
were lively centers of shipbuilding and the coasting trade. 

During the French and Indian War great numbers of vessels 
all along the New England coast, and especially in llliode 
Island, were fitted out as privateers, and carried on the war 
on their own account. In Rhode Island the government 
was less prominent than in Massachusetts; there was more 
individual freedom. In Connecticut the whole terri- 
tory was cut up into little towns, and there was no ■'■'^■'■° 
one place of great importance, though Yale College had been 
established at New Haven. ^ 

4. Life in New York. — In New York the population lived 
mainly near the great rivers. There was a cluster of towns 
about New York Bay ; then settlements followed the course of 
the Hudson to Albany; and along the valley of the Mohawk 
westward, descendants of the Dutch and of the English occu- 
pied the country. The Dutch language was very generally 
used, and the old Dutch customs were still followed. The 
houses were built after the pattern of houses in Holland, and 
usually of brick. Within they were kept scoured, so that no 
spot of dirt could be seen. The wide chimneys had tiles sur- 
rounding the fireplaces, with pictures on them of Bible scenes. 
Great chests of drawers held piles of linen, woven by the 
mothers and daughters. Behind glass cupboards were shining 
silver and pewter ware and delicate china. There was an air of 
comfort and ease. In the shops at Albany, one would see furs 
and skins brought by the Indians, and silks and satins brought 
by vessels from the East Indies for the rich Dutch families. 

1 There have been many books treating of New England in colonial days. 
Among the most particular in detail are Mrs. Alice Morse Earle's Customs 
and Fashions in Old New England. 



110 ESTABLISHMENT OF THE UNION. 

The Patroons and their Influence The large grants of land 

originally made by the Dutch West India Company had led to 
the establishment of great estates. The patroon lived in a 
great house, with many servants about him. He did not sell 
his land, but let it out in farms. This interfered with the 
growth of independent farms, but the patroons with their 
wealth were able to introduce better cattle, horses, and modes 
of farming. These landowners formed a class like the Eng- 
lish aristocracy, and their homes were the scenes of great hos- 
pitality in the summer time. It was hard for the farmers who 
cleared away the forests and broke up the new soil on these 
great estates not to believe that they made the land their own. 
They rarely saw the patroon, and they began to- ask what right 
he had to their rent in the wilderness. Many refused to pay 
rent, and drove off the sheriff who came to demand it. 

The great estates interfered also with the growth of towns. 
Thus, though there were towns in New York, and the govern- 
ment was much the same as in New England, each person did 
not, as there, feel an interest in the whole colony. The peo- 
ple lacked the town meeting in its best form. The town of 
New York was a military post of Great Britain. It was also 
a busy commercial port. The English officers and the rich 
merchants lived in better style than other people. 

Throughout the colony there were more who were very rich 
and more who were very poor than in New England. The col- 
ony also differed from New England in having within its borders 
a large number of Indians of the powerful tribe of the Iroquois. 
These were made peaceable neighbors first through their hatred 
of the French, and then by the strong influence of Sir Wil- 
liam Johnson, who had married into the tribe and had encour- 
aged settlements of them about his own estates at Johnstown.^ 

5. Life in the Middle Colonies. — New Jersey, enclosed by 
New York and Pennsylvania, was protected by both from 
Indian disturbances. It was a farming country, with a sea- 

1 An interesting contemporaneous account of life in New York may be 
found in Mrs. Grant's An American Lady. 



THE THIRTEEN ENGLISH COLONIES. Ill 

coast which had few harbors. Thus there was little trade. 
Small villages and small farms covered the country more 
closely than in other colonies, and the people were nearly all 
of one class in life. The Friends were still the most impor- 
tant people both in New Jersey and in Pennsylvania, though 
they, had lost much influence b}" their refusal to do their part 
in the French and Indian War. They were prosperous and 
charitable, and lived mainly on the rich farms and in the 
thriving towns of the eastern settlements. 

There were many Germans in the middle and eastern parts 
of Pennsylvania. The Germans agreed well with the Friends, 
but were frequently engaged in quarrels with the Irish, who 
lived chiefly on the western frontier. These backwoodsmen 
were constantly in difliculty with the Indians. When they 
demanded military help, they were opposed by the Friends, 
and all these quarrels were carried into the Assembly. 

The Largest Town in the Country. — The most thickly settled 
part of America was the country about the shores of Delaware 
Bay and River. Three colonies bordered on this water, — 
New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Delaware. The last two 
were under the same governor, but had separate legislatures. 
Philadelphia, the center of this population, was the largest 
town in the country, and numbered about twenty-five thousand 
inhabitants in 1763. It was laid out in regular squares, lined 
with trees. The houses were mainly of brick, sometimes of 
stone, rarely of wood. There were sidewalks to the streets, 
— an unusual thing in those days. There were gardens and 
orchards about many of the houses, and there was an excellent 
market. A trading community occupied the town. There 
were many rich merchants who lived handsomely, and a large 
number of prosperous mechanics. 

Benjamin Franklin One of these mechanics was Benja- 
min Franklin,^ who had come to Philadelphia from Boston 

1 Franklin was born in Boston and was one of a family of seventeen chil- 
dren. He showed so early a brightness of mind that his father sent him to 
school and meant to make a minister of him. He quickly made his way to 



112 ESTABLISHMENT OF •THE UNION. 

when a young man, had set up as a printer, and was now the 
foremost man in Pennsylvania. Franklin was a hard-working, 
clear-headed man, who took the liveliest interest in the affairs 
of the people. He persuaded the Philadelphians to keep their 
city clean, to light it with lamps, to protect it from fire, and to 
give it a good police. Through his influence, largely, the city 
was the most orderly and the most flourishing in the country. 

He was a man of science. He discovered protection against 
lightning by the use of iron rods. He invented the Franklin 
stove, which increased the comfort of houses and economized 
fuel. He printed every year Poor Richard'' s Almanac,^ in 
which he gave good advice to his countrymen about habits 
of prudence. His advice was so sensible, and given in such 
homely language, that everybody read and remembered it. 
He was one of the most active in raising supplies to aid in 
carrying on the war with the French and Indians. 

His townsmen sent him to the Assembly, where he became 
a leader of the people in opposition to the Penn family; 
for this family, which was still in power, was unwilling to 
bear its share of expenses in protecting the colony against 

the top, but his father was alarmed at the expense of sending liim to college 
and so took him into his shop and set him to making candles. Franklin was 
a leader among the boys and was so full of enterprise that his father feared 
he would run away to sea, so he finally made him an apprentice to another of 
his sons who was a printer. James Franklin set up a newspaper and Benja- 
min began to write for it, but without letting his brother know he wrote the 
pieces. The brothers did not get along very well, and when he was seventeen 
Benjamin left James in the lurch, got together some money by selling his 
books, and made his way to Philadelphia. I have given a fuller account of 
Franklin in my Short History, and Hawthorne has a sketch in his Biographical 
Stories. But every one should read Franklin's Autobiography, not only for its 
delightful narrative by a great man of his own life, but for the glimpse it 
gives of life in America before the Revolution. 

1 A convenient collection of bits |rom these almanacs as well as passages 
from other of Franklin's writings may be found in the Riverside Literature 
series, No. 21, and also in The World's Classics. The proverbs and wise sen- 
tences were introduced by the phrase "As Poor Richard says"; thus, "God 
helps them that help themselves, as Poor Richard says." The signature which 
Franklin used was Richard Saunders. Some of the proverbs were familiar 
sayings, cleverly applied, some were of Franklin's own invention. 




Benjamin Franklin. 

Born January 6, 1706 | died April 17, 1790. 

113 



114 ESTABLISHMENT OF 3'BE UNION. 

the enemy. Franklin was not alone in his love of science 
and interest in public affairs. There were other men in 
Pennsylvania only less distinguished than he, whose names 
are still remembered,' and there were flourishing societies, 
and the first medical school in the country was established 
in Philadelphia. 

6. Life in the South. — The colonies lying to the south of 
Mason and Dixon's Line differed from those of the North in 
being wholly agricultural and in having their labor done by 
black slaves. The chief products were tobacco in the northern 
parts, rice, indigo, and a little cotton, in the southern. The 
land was held in large estates, so that power was in the hands 
of a comparatively small number of families. 

In Virginia, the water ways were so excellent that vessels 
from England or the Northern colonies could receive and dis- 
charge cargoes at the wharves of the several plantations. 
Thus towns were insignificant, and the merchants were few; 
the planter shipped his tobacco direct and received in return, 
landed at his own door, whatever he needed that his own 
plantation did not produce. 

Baltimore was the only town of importance in the tobacco 
country. Farther south, in the rice country, was Charleston. 
The planters in South Carolina divided their time between 
their plantations and Charleston. They could not live much 
of the year on their estates, and tlie care of the black slaves 
was left largely to overseers. Thus slavery in Virginia was 
less harsh than in South Carolina. In the former colony, 
masters and servants formed one great household; in the lat- 
ter, the unhealthy country led to frequent deaths among the 
slaves; their number was filled up with fresh importations 
from Africa, and the masters and mistresses might have 
slaves whom they never saw. 

Early Influence of Slavery. — Since almost all manual labor 
in the Southern colonies was done by slaves, the free men felt 

1 Among these were John Barti-am, the botanist; David Rittenhouse, the 
astronomer; Benjamin Rnsh, the physician. 



THE THIRTEEN ENGLISH COLONIES. 115 

it to be beneath them to work with tlieir hands. The better 
class, who owned the slaves, had no need to labor; the poorer 
sort were unwilling to do what slaves did. Thus, between 
the planters and the blacks, there came to be a class of poor 
whites who lived from hand to mouth and learned no habits 
of industry and saving. The planters often sent their sons to 
Europe to be educated, and they had teachers for their younger 
children at home. 

There were, therefore, not many schools, and the poorer 
people grew up in ignorance. The rich had books and pictures, 
and were a courteous, generous class, high-spirited and well- 
educated. In Maryland the proprietary government continued. 
In Virginia, the Carolinas, and Georgia, the governors and other 
officers were appointed by the king, while the members of 
assemblies were chosen by the people. The people who chose 
the members were the landholders and slave owners, and they 
naturally took a great interest in politics.^ 

1 A good many interesting items of life in the colonies will be found in the 
narratives I have brought together in Men and Manners in America a Hundred 
Years Ago. Another book which goes over much general ground in a pictur- 
esque fashion is Charles Carleton Cothn's Old Times in the Colonies. See also 
Kellogg's Good Old Times, dealing especially with western Pennsylvania. 

QUESTIONS. 

What was the general character of the country occupied by the thirteen 
English colonies ? How many inhabitants were there, and. what propor- 
tion were blacks ? Name the thirteen colonies in their order beginning 
with the one farthest north. Describe life in Massachusetts. What 
determined the industries of the colony ? Name the occupations of the 
people. Describe their houses ; the rooms ; the fireplaces ; the fuel ; 
the food ; the clothing ; the best room. How did the people amuse them- 
selves? What were the social distinctions ? What was at the center of 
the town ? What was the local government ? Explain the difference 
between a New England town and a Western township. What was 
Faneuil Hall ? What was the difference between town life and country 
life ? What constitutes the chief industry of Maine and New Hampshire ? 
What effect did the French war have on New England industry ? 

Where were the settleinents in New York? Why was the Dutch Ian- 



116 ESTABLISHMENT OF* THE UNION. 

guage used there ? Describe the houses ; the fireplaces ; the chests of 
drawers ; the glass cupboards. Of what trade was Albany the center ? 
Describe the farms. Describe the town of New York. What was lack- 
ing among the Dutch to cultivate the spirit of liberty ? What Indians 
were in New York, and what Englishman had great influence among 
them ? Describe New Jersey and Pennsylvania, and the people who 
lived there. Where was the most thickly settled portion of America? 
Describe Philadelphia. Give the story of Benjamin Franklin. What 
was Poor Bichard's Almanac? Describe the planters' manner of living. 
What is said of the governments of the Southern colonies ? of the people 
who composed all the colonies ? 

SEARCH QUESTIONS. 

Who were the Huguenots, and what brought them to this country ? 
Name some instances in recent history when Faneuil Hall has been used 
for great public meetings. What are the principal colleges in New Eng- 
land, and when were they established ? What old scientific association 
has its home in Philadelphia? What part did Franklin have in the 
establishment of public libraries ? Why did slavery die out in the North- 
ern colonies ? When did it disappear by law in Massachusetts ? in New 
York ? Wiiat customs inaugurated by the Dutch in New York remain in 
vogue ? How did ten ministers bring about the founding of Yale Col- 
lege ? 

SUGGESTIONS FOR LITERARY TREATMENT. 

Compositions : 

A New England town meeting. 

Franklin's boyhood. 

How Franklin once flew a kite and what came of it. 

A Sunday service in a Puritan church. 

Poor Bichard's Almanac and some of its maxims. 

Debates : 

Besolved, That Franklin became of greater importance to the country 
by taking up his residence in Philadelphia. 

Besolved, That the absence of towns in Virginia was of advantage in 
the development of the colony. 



CHAPTER II. 



ENGLAND AND THE COLONIES. 



Ex'ports. Goods sent out of the 

ports of a country. 
Im'ports. Goods brought into the 

ports of a country. 
Smuggle. To import goods secretly, * 

so as to escape the payment of 

duties. 
Ad'\rocate General. An officer of 

the government who represents it 

in cases brought before the courts. 
Direct Tax. A tax collected directly 

fron: a person, as a poll tax, or a 



percentage upon his property. 
An indirect tax is one which is 
collected on the value of goods, 
and thus is usually added to the 
pr'ce of the goods by the owner. 
A duty on imports is an indirect 
tax. 
Effigy (ef'fi-i>y), A figure in imi- 
tation of a person. To hang or 
burn in effigy is to hang or burn 
a stuffed figure intended to repre- 
sent the obnoxious person. 



7. The thirteen colonies were thirteen distinct governments, 
but they had also mueh in common. They were English 
colonies; they obeyed English laws; they called the King of 
England their king; they traded with one another, both by 
land and by water; families mov^ed from one colony to another; 
letters and newspapers were sent back and forth. There was 
no such quick movement as is now possible. The roads were 
rudely made and ill kept. People traveled chiefly by their 
own conveyances. 

In 1756 the first stage ran between New York and Phila- 
delphia, and was three days making the journey. Those who 
traveled by sloop packets were dependent on the winds. They 
might be three days in going from New York to Providence, 
Ehode Island, and they might be three times as long. The 
mails were carried mainly on horseback, and connected the 
line of settlements regularly from Portsmouth, New Hamp- 
shire, to Philadelphia. 

117 



118 ESTABLISHMENT OF ^HE UNION. 

South of Philadelphia the rider went only when he had col- 
lected what he thought enough matter. In JSTortli Carolina the 
mail passed through the coast towns only about once a month. 
The different colonies had also their separate postal arrange- 
ments within their own borders. 

Early Newspapers. — The people in different parts of the 
country depended for news chiefly on the letters which they 
received. The newspapers did not at first tell much of what 
was going on in the places where they were published. They 
contained advertisements, and news about European affairs 
copied from the London papers. The first newspaper was 
the Boston News Letter, established in 1701. In 1763 there 
were only between thirty and forty newspapers in the entire 
country. The printer, who was often the postmaster, did not 
usually write many articles himself. He printed letters written 
to him by his fellow townsmen, and these letters told what the 
writers thought of the government or of public affairs. Thus, 
when the colonies began to have common interests, the news- 
paper came to be of importance. 

8. Plans for Union. — The dangers which threatened the 
colonies had more than once led them to seek some union 
among themselves. This is seen in the confederation of the 
New England colonies in 1613, in the congress held in New 
York after the destruction of Schenectady, in 1690, and in the 
congress held at Albany in 1751. These all arose from diffi- 
culties with the Indians. 

Franklin, who wafe a delegate from Pennsylvania to this 
last congress, drew up a plan on his way to Albany for a 
more perfect union of all the colonies under one government. 
When he met the other delegates he found that some of them 
had drawn up similar plans. There was a growing belief that 
some union was necessary. The congress at Albany discussed 
the matter, and agreed upon a plan which was mainly that of 
Franklin. He impressed his view of a Federal union upon 
the people in a characteristic fashion, for his newspaper, the 
Pennsylvania Gazette, for a long time bore a device which 



ENGLAND AND THE COLONIES. 119 

represented a snake cut up into fragments, each fragment 

labeled with initials of the colonies from New England to 

Georgia, and the motto beneath," Unite 

or Die." ^ This plan was rejected both 

by the English government and by the 

separate colonies. England thought 

it gave too much power to the j)eople ; 

the colonies thought it gave too much 

power to the president, who was to be an officer of the crown. 

Reasons for and against Union. — After all, there was too 
much difference in the size and importance of the different 
colonies to permit them to agree upon any union. The small 
colonies were jealous of the great ones; there were many quar- 
rels over boundaries; they were not all in equal danger from 
the Indians. It was only when they were all in danger that 
they could forget their differences and unite in a common 
cause. 

They were all a part of the British Empire, and they had 
the independence and love of liberty which belonged to Eng- 
lishmen. Twice since America began to be settled by English 
men and women, the people of England had resisted the gov- 
ernment because it was unjust and was taking away their 
liberty. More than once in the American colonies the people 
had risen when they thought their liberties in danger. 

9. Political Liberty in America. — The people in America 
were separated by a w^de ocean from England, and what was 
more important, living as they did in a new country which 
they were subduing to their own use, they were separated from 
the hard-and-fast customs of England. An Englishman, unless 
he had unusual gifts, lived and died in the class to which he 
belonged. In America there was already greater equality, 
and there was a chance for every one to better his condition. 

The farmer or the planter living on his own place could earn 
his livelihood and was not constantly reminded that there was 
somebody over him to whom he must pay taxes. On the 
1 Franklin's Plan of Union is given in No. 9 of Old South Leaflets. 



120 ESTABLISHMENT OF 'MHE UNION. 

contrary, he decided, either himself or by his representative, 
what taxes should be laid. It must be borne in mind con- 
stantly that the colonies had from the beginning performed 
the fundamental act of government in taxing themselves. 

The people, in fact, had so long made their own laws, and 
for the most part chosen their own rulers, that they were inde- 
pendent in fact before they were independent in name. It 
was mainly in the seaport towns that people were reminded 
frequently of England and English laws. 

10. Parties in England. — In England, meanwhile, a change 
had been going on, especially since the advent of George III. 
to the throne. For fifty years or so the control of 
' the government had been practically in the hands 
of a group of persons, knov/n in history as the Old Whigs. 
They made Parliament supreme and reduced the power of the 
crown. 

Now Parliament was supposed to be the choice of the 
people; in reality it was the mouthpiece of a few powerful 
families. There was, however, one notable exception, — 
William Pitt/ called the Great Commoner, because the people 
at large instinctively felt that he was their champion and 
leader. Pitt was at the head of a rising party known as the 
New Whigs. Their aim was to make Parliament really repre- 
sent the people instead of being a political machine used by the 
Old Whig group. This party, though a small one at first, was, 
in fact, fighting for constitutional liberty in England. 

When George III. came to the throne, a new, or more strictly 
speaking, the revival of an old force in government was seen. 
As the Stuart kings had tried to establish a nearly absolute 
monarchy, so George III. was determined to be the real ruler 
of the country. He drew about him the Tory party, and under- 
took by means of his cabinet to manage the affairs of England 
and her colonies. It is needful to bear this in mind, if one 
would understand the attitude which America bore to Eng- 
land. 

1 See Macaulay's Essay on the Earl of Cliatiiam (William Pitt), 



ENGLAND AND THE COLONIES. 121 

11. The Treatment of America by England. — The English did 
not know much about America, or understand the people there. 
They knew there was a vast country beyond the sea which 
belonged to England, and that it was growing rich. They 
were like landlords who own distant farms, and care only to 
get as much proht as possible out of them. They regarded 
the colonies chiefly as a market for their goods, and the laws 
made by Parliament were designed to limit the trade of the 
colonies to English markets. 

The furs brought in by the hunters, tlie fish caught by tlie 
fishermen, the pitch, tar, turpentine, and ship timbers from 
the forest, must all go to England. In the -wild woods of 
Maine and New Hampshire no tree of more than twenty-four 
inches' diameter at a foot above the ground could be cut down 
except for a mast for one of the king's ships. 

The laws also laid a duty upon exports and imports. The 
colonists could trade only with England, and they were 
required to pay a tax to the government upon all that they 
bought and all that they sold. If other countries wanted 
their goods, they must buy them of English merchants. The 
colonies could not even sell freely to one another. 

Restriction of Manufactures. — Besides this, England forbade 
tlie colonies to carry on manufacturing except in a small way. 
They might take iron from the mine, but they must send it 
to England to be manufactured. They paid a tax when they 
sent their iron ore to England. They paid English merchants 
for carrying it, English manufacturers for working it, English 
merchants for bringing it back, and then another tax to the 
English government. 

Thus English merchants and manufacturers grew rich, and 
were very careful to keep the colonies from trading with 
other countries. A host of officers were stationed in the 
American ports to collect the revenue and see that the laws 
were enforced. The colonists were impatient under these 
restraints; but they were prosperous, and paid the taxes out 
of their abundance. 



122 ESTABLISHMENT OF .THE UNION. 

The long extent of seacoast and the scattered population 
made it eas}^ to smuggle goods into the country. In New 
England, especially, a great trade was carried on in this way 
and large fortunes were made, so that the complaints against 
the revenue laws were not so loud as they might otherwise 
have been. 

12. Writs of Assistance. — There was nothing unusual in the 
attitude which England took toward the colonies. They be- 
longed to her according to the theory of the time, and more- 
over she had just been waging a costly war. The French and 
Indian War was a part of the Seven Years' War between 
England and France. When peace came, England was mis- 
tress of America, but she was also heavily in debt. She 
looked around for means to pay the debt, and to lessen the 
burdens which Englishmen were bearing in England. 

The American colonies offered the easiest means. The 
colonies had, it is true, taxed themselves to meet the ex- 
penses of the war in America; but the English government 
declared that the war had been fought mainly to benefit the 
colonies, and that the colonies ought to pay still more. It 
determined to enforce more strictly those laws of trade which 
had hitherto brought in so much revenue; but its intention 
was to use the revenue thus acquired mainly in America it- 
self. The authority of the king's officers in the ports was 
increased, and they were armed with Writs of Assistance. 

These were legal papers long in use in England, which gave 
those who held them power to enter any warehouse or dwell- 
ing, to search for smuggled goods which they might suspect 
to be hidden there. What rendered them especially obnox- 
ious was that they were general in their nature, for they did 
not define the goods hunted for, and they were unlimited in 
time. Armed with one of these writs, an officer could go into 
any house, and he could require the assistance of citizens. He 
was not obliged either to return the paper to the court after 
he liad made his search. He could use it again and again. 

Tliere is a saying, "An Englishman's house is his castle": 



ENGLAND AND THE COLONIES. 123 

that is, he has rights there which the king is bound to respect. 
If these writs were given, the people knew that their houses 
would be entered by tlie king's officers on the merest suspi- 
cion. They said that the writs were illegal, and they deter- 
mined to prove this in the courts. 

In 1761 the collector of the port of Boston ordered his dep- 
uty in Salem to procure a Writ of Assistance from the court, 
to enable him to search for smuggled goods. Objection was 
raised that it was against the law to give the writ, and the 
judge decided to hear arguments before he issued it. James 
Otis, Jr., was advocate general of the province. It was his 
duty to defend the legality of the Writ of Assistance. He re- 
signed his office rather than take that side, and appeared in 
behalf of the people. It was a famous trial; and Otis in his 
speech used the words, " Taxation without representation is 
tyranny." ^ 

13. "Taxation without Representation is Tyranny." — This 
sentence became a watchword in America during the exciting 
times which followed. The people meant by the phrase that 
they were as much Englishmen as those who lived in England. 
They said that for Parliament to tax them without giving them 
a voice in making the laws, either in Parliament or in their 
own assemblies, was to treat them as if they were a subject 
people. 

The force of the watchword is more apparent if we con- 
sider that the American people were far more directly and 
completely represented in their assemblies than the English 
were in Parliament. The right to vote for members of Par- 
liament was confined to certain classes in England, and the 
members elected did not in any special way represent the 
interests of the place where they were elected. In America, . 
all but a few men had the right to vote, and the members 
elected to the assemblies spoke for their neighbors. 

What irritated the Americans was the exercise of power 

1 Dr. Samuel Johnson, the famous English author, was a staunch Tory, and 
wrote a pamphlet called Taxation no Tyranny. 

K 



124 



ESTABLISHMENT OF THE UNION, 



over them by what they regarded almost as a foreign body, 
the English Parliament, and what they resented most was the 
exercise of that power in taxing them. They were ready to 
tax themselves in support of the crown ; they would not sub- 
mit to have that tax imposed on them by Parliament. 

14. Resistance to the Stamp Act. — The first direct issue of 
importance between the colonies and England came when 
Parliament undertook to lay a tax to be collected by officers 

appointed for the purpose. This 
was the Stamp Act, by which it 
was required that a stamp should 
be affixed to any deed, contract, 
bill of sale, will, and the like, 
made in America before it could 
be legal. These stamps were to 
be made in England, and sent 
over to America to be sold by the 
government officers. It was in- 
tended that the money thus raised 
should be used for the support of 
B the king's troops in America. 

The Stamp Act was passed by 
Parliament in March, 1765, and 
as soon as this was known in 
America, the colonies, from one 
end of the land to the other, were 
full of indignation. Parliament, they said, might make laws 
to regulate the commerce of the empire, and so draw revenue 
from America; but it had no right to lay a direct tax like 
this. Only the colonial governments, elected by the people, 
could lay such a tax. 

Virginia's Action. — In the Virginia legislature a famous 
orator, Patrick Henry, introduced resolutions, which declared 
that the people, and the people only, had the right to tax the 
people. They had this right, not as colonists, but as Eng- 
lishmen. They had their own assemblies^ where they could 




Stamp. 



ENGLAND AND THE COLONIES. 



125 




Patrick Henry. 



1 Patrick Henry did not come of one of the rich and influential families of 
Virginia, but both his father, who was of Scotch birth, and his mother, who 
was Welsh by extraction, were persons of character and ability. Patrick 
Henry was born May 29, 1736, and until he was twenty-four gave no evidence 
of special intellectual force. Then he became a lawyer, and it was not long 
before he became noted in his neigliborhood for his oratory. He made a great 
reputation in the Continental Congress, and was the first governor of the State 
of Virginia. He was one of the party that stood out against the adoption of 
the constitution. He died June 6, 1799. A convenient life of Patrick Henry 
is that by Moses Coit Tyler. A fuller one in two volumes has been written by 
William Wirt Henry. 



126 ESTABLISHMENT OF ^THE UNION. 

vote the taxes. Many of the members objected to the tesolu- 
tions, fearing that they were too emphatic. Patrick Henry 
replied with a powerful speech. In the midst of it he ex- 
claimed: "Caesar had his Brutus, Charles the First his Crom- 
well, and George the Third" — "Treason! treason!" cried 
some of the excited members. Henry waited a moment, then 
added solemnly — "may profit by their example. If that be 
treason, make the most of it." 

15. The Stamp Act Congress. — The Massachusetts legislature 
proposed a general convention of all the colonists, which met 
at New York in October, 1765. Nine colonies took part in it, 
and sent their most distinguished men. For the first time 
the whole country had a common cause, and there was need 
that the people should consult together. Congress, as the 
convention was called, drew up a declaration of rights. 

The people of the colonies, it said, had the same rights as 
the people of England. It was the right of Englishmen to be 
taxed only by their own consent. This consent was given 
through representatives. Englishmen had their Parliament; 
the people in the different colonies had their assemblies. The 
assemblies had the sole power to lay taxes in America. 
Congress demanded the repeal of the Stamp Act; and the 
people everywhere showed their determination to support this 
demand. 

16. The Attitude of the Colonists — They declared that until 
the stamp act was repealed, they would not import English 
goods. They held fairs to encourage home manufactures. 
They would not eat mutton, so that they might have more 
wool to spin They would not wear mourning, because all 
mourning goods came from England. When the stamps v/ere 
received in America it was impossible to compel the people to 
use them The officers who were to supply them were some- 
times made to resign, sometimes hanged or burned in effigy ; ' 

1 In the face of a building at the corner of Washington and Essex streets 
in Boston is a carving which typifies the Liberty Tree which, in 176G, stood 
m a green at that spot It was an ancient tree with spreading branches, and 



ENGLAND AND THE COLONIES. 127 

copies of the Stamp Act were publicly burned, bells were 
tolled, flags hung at half mast; and in some towns mobs 
destroyed the houses of the revenue officers.^ 

17. The Stamp Act in England. — The effect was felt in Eng- 
land, where a small party in Parliament upheld the colonists. 
In the House of Commons William Pitt uttered the memo- 
rable words: "The gentlemen tell us that America is obsti- 
nate, America is almost in open rebellion. Sir, I rejoice that 
America has resisted! Three millions of people, so dead to 
all the feelings of liberty as voluntarily to submit to be 
slaves, would have been fit instruments to make slaves of all 
the rest." 

At that time it was the custom of the different colonies to 
employ agents, who lived in London and looked out for the 
interests of the colonies which sent them. Benjamin Frank- 
lin was one of these agents, and his words had great weight 
with the wise Englishmen. 

The British ministry, before the act was passed, had asked 
Franklin how the people in America would regard it. He 
told them tliat the people would never submit to it. Now 
the ministry sent for Franklin again, and asked if he thought 
the people would pay for the damage done in the destruction 
of the stamped pcaper if Parliament would repeal the Stamp 
Act. Franklin replied with a characteristic story. 

A Frenchman, he said, rushed into the street once with a 
red-hot poker in his hand, and met an Englishman. " Will you 
let me run this poker a foot into you?" screamed the French- 
man. "What!" said the Englishman. "W^ell, six inches, 
then? " " Never ! " " Then will yon pay me for the trouble and 
expense of heating the poker?" The Englishman walked off. 

under it open-air meetings were held. From a branch of the tree hung an 
effigy of Andrew Oliver, the stamp officer ; and a number of the Sons of Lib- 
erty, as a half-secret organization was called, took the effigy down at night 
and burned it in a bonfire before Oliver's house. 

1 Before the Stamp Act Congress, the term Americans had been applied 
generally to the natives of North America. It was now that on both sides of 
the Atlantic it began to be used of the inhabitants of the English colonies. 



128 ESTABLISHMENT OF *I'HE UNION. 

The Stamp Act was repealed, for the English government 
saw that it was impossible to enforce it. At the same time 
Parliament took care to say that it had the right to 
-in^oo' tax the colonies. In America people were overjoyed 
at the repeal of the act, and did not trouble them- 
selves much about the claims which Parliament might set up 
in words. 

QUESTIONS. 

What were the relations of the colonies to each other and to England ? 
What is said of the roads ? the modes of travel ? the mails ? the news- 
papers ? What attempts at union had been made ? Why did Franklin's 
plan of union fail ? What stood in the way of a union ? What was the 
difference between political life in America and in England ? What had 
been the practice regarding taxation in America ? Describe the political 
parties in England at this time. Who was the Great Commoner ? What 
part had he already played in American affairs ? [See Introduction, 
Chapter VI.] How did England look upon America ? What laws were 
made restricting trade ? What regulations in regard to manufactures 
were made ? What acts had England formerly passed making the colo- 
nies dependent on England? [See Introduction, Section 49.] Why 
were English revenue officers in American ports ? Why was it not con- 
sidered disreputable to smuggle ? How had the colonists paid a share of 
the expenses of the French and Indian War ? How did England pro- 
pose further to relieve herself ? What were Writs of Assistance ? Why 
were they obnoxious ? What was done by James Otis ? What is meant 
by the words "Taxation without representation is tyranny"? Wliat 
was the difference between popular government in America and England ? 
What were the stamps, and what use was made of them ? What was the 
American ground of resistance to the Stamp Act ? Tell what Patrick 
Henry did and said. Why did a Congress assemble in 1765, and what 
did it do ? What did the people do, and how did they treat the officers 
who sold the stamps? What did William Pitt say? What story did 
Franklin tell, and how did it apply to the case ? What was finally done, 
and why ? 

SEARCH QUESTIONS. 

Why are taxes needed in government ? How are they laid in America 
to-day, and who collects them ? What is the real difference between a 
postage stamp and a revenue stamp? How were the stamps in 1765 
affixed to papers ? What revenue stamps are now used in the United 



ENGLAND AND THE COLONIES. 129 

States ? When were they imposed by the government to a large extent 
and cheerfully accepted by the people ? Tell the story of Brutus and 
Caesar ; of Cromwell and Charles I. What word is in common use to- 
day to express a systematic refusal to trade with a particular person ? 
In what country did it originate ? How were tlie stamps fixed to papers ? 
What were the leading articles of manufacture in the colonies at this 
time ? Did the colonists really desire to be represented in Parliament ? 
What then was the meaning of '' no taxation without representation" ? 
In what way was this phrase a watchword of William Pitt as well as of 
Patrick Henry and James Otis ? 

SUGGESTIONS FOR LITERARY TREATMENT. 

Compositions : 

Narrative of a journey from Boston to Philadelphia in 1763. 

A sketch of the life of William Pitt. 

How the colonists in some cities set about defeating the Stamp Act ? 

A sketch of the life of James Otis. 

Debates : 

Besolved, That England was justified in drawing revenue from Amer- 
ica for the payment of government expenses in America. 

Resolved, That the colonists were justified in smuggling, under the 
navigation laws. 

Resolved, That England was acting under her constitutional rights in 
passing the Stamp Act. 



CHAPTER III. 



THE FIRST RESISTANCE. 



Quartered. Given quarters or 

houseroom among the people- 
East India Company. A corporation 
in England, formed for trading 
with the East Indies. It laid the 
foundation of p]nglish rule in India. 
Common. A piece of ground in a 



town, left uninclosed, for the 

common use of all the people in 

the town. 
Outskirts. The border of a town. 
Par'apet. A fortification, breast 

high. 
Ticondero'ga. 



18. The Quartering of Troops. — The object of the Stamp Act 
had been to raise money for the support of the king's troops 
in America. That object still remained, and Parliament now 
passed an act by which the colonies were to quarter the troops 
sent among them. It also imposed certain duties on 
colonial trade and declared that the revenue from 
these duties should be used to pay the salaries of officers of 
the crown in America. It reaffirmed the legality of Writs of 
Assistance. The attitude of Parliament was clearly one of 
tighter control of the colonies. 

To make this more evident, a colonial department was made 
a distinct branch of the government. Pitt had grown feeble 
and had withdraw^n practically from power. He had been 
created Earl of Chatham. The ministry, headed now by the 
brilliant Townshend and a little later by the dull and obsti- 
nate Lord North, was a Tory ministry. The old Whigs were 
out of office, and the party of new Whigs, though vigorous, 
was small. There was no quarrel between the king's ministry 
and Parliament, but the colonies for some time maintained the 
position that they were loyal subjects of the king and resisted 
only the illegal acts of Parliament. 

130 



THE FIRST RESISTANCE. 131 

The Boston Massacre. — The principal places affected by these 
acts were New York and Boston. The Assembly of New York 
refused to make provision for the troops, and Parliament or- 
dered the Assembly to close. Massachusetts sent a circular 
letter to the other colonies, proposing a petition to the king. 
This petition protested against acts of Parliament which taxed 
them without their consent. The answer of the king's minis- 
ters was to send four regiments of soldiers to Boston. The 
people there, both in town meeting and in the legislature, 
demanded that the troops should be withdrawn. 

They were a constant cause of irritation ; and the petty 
quarrels between the soldiers and townspeople broke out hnally 
into a light in which some of the townspeople were 
killed. This fight, which goes by the name of the ^;fyyQ^' 
Boston Massacre, produced an intense feeling of 
anger. For several years the 5th of March was a day for a 
great town meeting, and an oration by some Boston patriot. 
By such meetings and addresses the people kept alive the mem- 
ory of a wrong, and encouraged one another to resist tyranny. 

Samuel Adams/ a popular leader who had great influence, 
especially among the workingmen of Boston, headed the citi- 
zens, the day after the Boston massacre, in a demand for the 
removal of the troops. The governor, Thomas Hutchinson,- 

1 Samuel Adams was born in Boston, September 16, 1722. His grandfather 
and the grandfather of John Adams were brothers. Samuel Adams was grad- 
uated at Harvard College, and the subject of his commencement, piece was 
significant, " Whether it be lawful to resist the supreme magistrate, if the 
Commonwealth cannot otherwise be preserved." He was distinctly the mouth- 
piece of the citizens of Boston in their dispute with the authorities. He was 
a member of the Continental Congress, and afterward Governor of Massachu- 
setts. He died October 2, 1803. His statue stands in Dock Square, Boston, 
and an excellent life has been written by James K. Hosmer. 

■^ Thomas Hutchinson and Samuel Adams were on opposite sides in politics, 
and as Adams represented the new party springing up which was satisfied 
finally with nothing short of independence, Hutchinson was the ablest of those 
who held by the Crown, and finally was compelled to leave the country. He 
was an honest, unselfish man, and no one can rightly understand the position 
of those who tried in America to keep the British empire intact, without 
becoming acquainted with Hutchinson. Mr. Hosmer has written his life also. 



132 



ESTABLISHMENT OF^THE UNION. 



seeing the entire community aroused, was wise enough to order 
the troops to be removed to the fort in the harbor, called the 
Castle. But the people were fast coming to look on the English 
government as hostile, and Adams, who was one of the first to 
see that entire independence was logically the end, proposed a 
committee in Boston town meeting to correspond with other 
towns on the affairs of the people. This practice was taken up 

by the towns, and later 
by the colony with other 
colonies, and commit- 
tees of correspondence 
became an important 
agency in organizing the 
people. 

19. The Tax on Tea. 
— England now com- 
mitted a blunder which 
brought affairs to a cri- 
sis. The colonies, by 
their firmness, had com- 
pelled Parliament to 
remove one tax after an- 
other ; that on tea alone 
remained. The people 
accordingly refused to 
buy tea, although for- 
merly they had bought 
large quantities. The East India Company found itself with 
seventeen million pounds of tea in its English warehouses, 
which it could not sell. The failure of the company would 
greatly impoverish the king, who owned shares in it. It be- 
came necessary to do something to relieve the company. 

Accordingly Lord North, the king's chief adviser, persuaded 
Parliament to pass an act taking off the tax of sixpence a 
pound which the tea paid in England. It was supposed this 
would so reduce the price of tea that the Americans would 




Samuel Adams. 



THE FIRST RESISTANCE. 



1.^3 



not mind the tax of threepence per pound which was still 
to be paid in America, and would buy largely. The company 
was shrewder than Lord North, ^, and asked to be allowed 
to pay the English tax, 
duty, in America. " No,' 
be one tax, to keep up the right 

As soon as the colonies 
learned of the act of Parlia- 
ment, there was great in- 
dignation. It was not 
cheap tea that they 
wanted, but untaxed 
tea. They saw the 
English govern- 
ment taking off 
the tax in Eng- ^ 
land, but keeping 
it on in America. 
They knew that 
this was intended 
by the king as a 
declaration of his 
right to tax the 
colonies. When 
the vessels bring- 
ing the tea 
reached America, 
the citizens in 
many of the ports compelled the captains to sail back with 
their cargoes to England. 

The Boston Tea Party. — In Boston the royalist governor at- 
tempted to secure the landing of the tea. The citizens, under 
the lead of Sam Adams, as he was popularly called, 
would not permit it. For twenty days the committee 
of the people strove to compel the governor to send back the 
vessels. Faneuil Hall, where the town meetings were held, was 




Old South Church. 



1773. 



134 ESTABLISHMENT OF THE UiWlON. 

crowded day after day with people who met to consult. At last, 
in the twilight of a December day, when the people were gath- 
ered in the Old South Church, because Faneuil Hall was not 
large enough, a messenger came from the governor with his final 
refusal. 

Sam Adams stood up and declared, " This meeting can do 

nothing more to save the country." A voice in tlie gallery 

called out, " Hurrah for Gritfin's Wharf ! " It was at 

1773 ' Crriffin's Wharf ^ that the tea ships lay. Immediately 
the people poured out of the church and hurried after 
a party of young men disguised as Indians, who set up a war 
whoop. These men took possession of the vessels, seized the 
tea chests, broke them open, and poured the contents into the 
harbor. 

20. The Boston Port Bill — As soon as the news reached 
England, Lord North brought into Parliament a bill, which 
was passed, ordering that after the first of June no person 
should load or unload any ship in the port of Boston until the 
town apologized, and paid for the tea which had been destroyed. 
The Boston Port Bill, as it was called, was the punishment 
which the British government inflicted on the rebellious town. 

To close the port of Boston was to strike a severe blow at the 

prosperity of the town and of the entire colony. When the act 

went into operation, the bells were tolled and the peo- 

1774' pl® hung out mourning. Throughout the country there 

was the greatest sympathy shown for Massachusetts. 

The other colonies urged the Bostonians to remain steadfast, 

and showed their sympathy by gifts of money and provisions. 

21. The Loss of Governmental Rights. — When the port of 
Boston was closed, a British fleet lay at the entrance, and regi- 
ments of British soldiers occupied the town. A still severer 
blow was struck at the liberties of the people. Parliament 
had passed two acts for the regulation of the government of 
the Province of Massachusetts Bay. 

1 A tabiot is inserted in the wall of a building on Atlantic Avenue where the 
wharf formerly stood. 



THE FIRST RESISTANCE. 135 

By these acts nearly all the power was lodged in the hands 
of the governor and of officers appointed by the king or gov- 
ernor. The people conld hold town meetings only once a year. 
The courts had power to send prisoners to England or to other 
colonies for trial, instead of being required to try them before 
juries of their neighbors. 

The people now knew that they had something more to 
struggle for than freedom from taxation. They were to con- 
tend for rights dear to every free Englishman, and they pro- 
ceeded at once to take measures to assert those rights. Since 
Parliament chose to take from them their customary govern- 
ment, they would make a new government. 

The people in Massachusetts, as in the other colonies, had 
been used to acting according to law. So now, when they 
rebelled against the government, they went about the business 
not as if they were breaking laws, but as if they were keeping 
them. They were forbidden to have more than one town 
meeting a year. In Boston, accordingly, they had only one, 
but by adjourning from time to time they made it last all the 
year. 

22. The Provincial and the Continental Congress. — General 
Gage, the new governor, who had been sent over from England, 
refused to recognize the legislature chosen by the people. There- 
upon the legislature formed itself into the Provincial Congress 
of Massachusetts, and withdrew from Boston to Concord. This 
Congress was regarded by the people of the colony as the real 
government. It appointed a Committee of Safety, which met 
frequently and had power to act in any emergency. 

The colonies all had committees of correspondence, and kept 
one another informed by letter of what was going on. Massa- 
chusetts now invited the other colonies to send delegates to a 
congress at Philadelphia. This is known as the First Continen- 
tal Congress. The name is significant of national 
feeling. All the colonies were represented except ^^J*^^^' 
Georgia. They drew up an address to the king, 
setting forth their grievances, and formed an agreement to 



136 



ESTABLISHMENT OF THE UNION. 



October, 

1774. 



refuse to carry on any trade with Great Britain until their 
wrongs should be righted. 

23. Lexington and Concord. — The towns of Massachusetts 
had always had their militia companies. Now these were 
newly organized, under patriot captains, and an active training 

and drill began. General 
Gage, on the other hand, 
began to move his sol- 
diers back and forth, to 
fortify Boston, and to 
secure the cannon and 
powder which might be 
in the province. The 
Provincial Con- 
gress had col- 
lected military 
stores in Concord. Gen- 
eral Gage, who had made 
unsuccessful attempts in 
other directions, planned 
a secret night excursion to Concord to destroy 
the stores. But he was in the midst of a 
hostile and vigilant people, and his plans Avere discovered in 
season to warn the Committee of Safety. 

Among the means taken by the patriots to warn the country, 
was a lantern signal hung from a church tower in Boston.^ 
Messengers rode by night through the country, carrying the 
news that British soldiers were marching to Concord, and peo- 
ple took down their muskets and hurried to join their neighbors. 
Thus when the British troops, early in the morning of the 

19th of April, reached Lexington, two thirds of the 
April 19 o ' 

1775 ' ^^^-^ ^^ Concord, they foiind a small body of country- 
men, under Captain Parker, drawn up on the com- 
mon to dispute the way. Captain Parker had given orders 

1 This incident has been graphically set forth in Longfellow's "Paul 
Revere's Ride." 




Carpenters' Hall, 

where the First Con- 
gress met. 



THE FIRST RESISTANCE. 



137 



not to fire unless they were fired upon. The British troops 
called upon the rebels to disperse, and opened fire on them, 
killing seven men. 

The little band of patriots retreated slowly, returning the 
fire as they went ; the British kept on to Concord, where they 
began to destroy the military stores. A detachment was sent 




across the river to destroy 
other stores farther off, 
when they heard the sound 
of firing near Concord 
Bridge, and quickly turned back. The Americans had attacked 
the troops left to guard the bridge. 

The whole countryside had been roused. The news of the 
attack at Lexington had spread like wildfire. Companies of 
minute men, so called because they were to be ready for move- 
ment at a minute's notice, were pouring into Concord and 
joined in the attack of the British, who were overpowered by 
the number of countrymen. 



138 ESTABLISHMENT OF THE UNION. 

The British forces began a retreat toward Boston, bearing 
their dead and wounded with them. All the way, from be- 
hind stone walls, and from houses, the angry farmers harassed 
them with shot. They did not desist until the troops had 
crossed Charlestown Neck at sunset, and were safe under the 
guns of the British vessels. 

The news of the tight traveled swiftly. The colonial militia 
had attacked the king's troops. There were no railways or 
telegraphs in those days, but every man sent word to his 
neighbor, and one town rallied the next. The farmers left 
their plows, and the artisans their tools. They took their guns 
and horses, and marched straight to Boston. The women were 
full of patriotism. A mother had two boys, one nineteen, the 
other sixteen, years of £ige. Her husband was at sea. She 
gave her eldest boy his fowling piece ; and since the duck and 
goose shot were too small, she cut up her pewter spoons and 
hammered the pieces nito slugs. She had only a rusty sword 
for the younger boy, but she sent them both off to join the men. 

The Patriots' Rally. — All through the 19th of April and the 
night that followed, the tramp of men and horses was heard 
on the roads. They came from every quarter; and on the 
morning of the 20th a great company had gathered at Cam- 
bridge, upon the outskirts of Charlestown, and at Roxbury. 
Boston was surrounded by camps of patriots. Every day their 
numbers were swelled by newcomers. Each company of soldiers 
chose its own officers, and was under the general orders of the 
colony to which it belonged. The oldest-commissioned and 
most experienced officer was Artemas Ward, who commanded 
the Massachusetts troops at Cambridge. 

Upon a monument which stands near the scene of the little 
battle of Concord, are four lines from a poem written by the 
American poet, Ralph Waldo Emerson : 

" By the rude bridge that arched the flood, 
Their flag to the April's breeze unfurled, 
Here once the embattled farmers stood, 
And fired the shot heard round the world.'* 




> THE NEW ENGLAND STATES 



DURINGTHE WAK FOR INDEPENDENCE 
Scale of — ■ 100 aiilcs 



THE FIRST RESISTANCE. 



139 



24. The Second Continental Congress While these things 

were going on, the Continental Congress was again in session in 
Philadelphia. The delegates to the Congress were by no means 




John Adams. 

ready to separate the colonies from England. They were bent 
only on maintaining the resistance which had been made until 
England should right their wrongs, and they clung as long as 
they could to the theory that Parliament was undertaking to 
govern them contrary to the laws of the empire, but that an 



140 ESTABLISHMENT OB THE UNION. 

appeal to the king and to their friends in England would 
bring about a change of policy. They were fortified in this 
belief by the energetic support which they received from a 
small party in Parliament. 

The resistance to the king's troops had been most open in 
a single locality, but there was a determined spirit of resist- 
ance everywhere. It was clear that the colonies must act 
together if they would accomplish anything. So when the 
Provincial Congress of Massachusetts, after Lexington and 
Concord, asked the Continental Congress to take charge of the 
army which was gathered about Boston from other colonies 
than Massachusetts, the Continental Congress did assume the 
general control, and the colonies took together the important 
step of raising troops and money to resist England. 

John Adams ^ was a delegate from Massachusetts, and on 
his nomination George Washington ^ of Virginia was 
'^^°®^^' unanimously elected general and commander-in-chief 
of the Army of the United Colonies.^ He imme- 
diately set out for Cambridge, and on his way heard an impor- 
tant piece of news. 

1 John Adams was born at Braintree, Massachusetts, October 19, 1735. At 
the outbreak of the war for independence he was a lawyer. He was a man 
of sturdy nature who was willing to do unpopular things if he thought they 
were right; he defended the soldiers engaged in the Boston Massacre, for 
instance. He will be met later in our history, for he was a conspicuous states- 
man and became the second president of the Union. Some of the most ani- 
mated accounts of the historic days in which he lived are to be found in the 
Familiar Letters of John and Abigail Adams, Abigail Adams being his wife, 
who stayed at home much of the time that John Adams was in the Conti- 
nental Congress. His life in the American Statesmen series is by John T. 
Morse, Jr. 

2 There are many easily accessible lives of Washington. I have written 
one, Geoj-c/e Washington, an Historical Biography. There is one in two vol- 
umes in American Statesmen series, by Henry Cabot Lodge, and an illustrated 
one by Woodrow Wilson. AVashington Irving's Life of Washington is one of 
the fullest. 

3 As the Congress was called continental, so the army was called the conti- 
nental army and the paper money issued by Congress, continental currency. 
The word is significant as indicating that the people had caught at the idea of 
a comprehension of all the colonies in one great nation. 



THE FIRST RESISTANCE. 141 

25. Battle of Bunker Hill. — On the evening of the 16th of 
June the Committee of Safety had sent troops to Charlestown, 
for they had lieard that the British meant to occupy that place. 
There in the night they had thrown up fortifications upon a 
hill commanding Boston. The part of the hill nearest Boston 
was called Breed's Hill ; behind it rose Bunker Hill. The 
British had been unwilling to make an attack upon the camps 
about Boston, for that meant open war ; but such a movement 
as this could not be overlooked. 

As soon (on the morning of the 17th) as they discovered 
the Americans intrenched, they sent troops across the river 
from Boston to dislodge them. They were very confident of 
quickly routing these raw troops with their regular soldiers. 
The Americans, behind a hastily built redoubt and a rail fence 
padded with new-mown hay, awaited the coming of the British 
as they marched up the hill. They had orders not to lire till 
they could see the whites of their enemies' eyes. Not a soldier 
stirred till the British were within fifty yards. Then, as the 
order was given, the Americans poured a deadly volley into the 
ranks. The redcoats, used to war, stood their ground for a 
moment, and then, seized with panic, rushed down the hill. 
Three times the British regulars were ordered up the hill. 
Twice they were driven back by the countrymen, who from 
behind their slight fortifications coolly fired upon the redcoats. 
Then the Amei'icans' ammunition gave out; and when the third 
attack came, they fired stones from their guns and slowly re- 
treated, leaving the British in possession.^ 

The battle of Bunker Hill had been fought. The Ameri- 
cans, led by Prescott- and Putnam,'^ had lost their brave gen- 

1 Read Dr. Holmes's dramatic poem " Grandmother's Story of the Battle of 
Bunker Hill." 

'2 Colonel Prescott was .grandfather of the historian. 

3 Israel Putnam, who had fought in the French and Indian War, was a 
farmer in Pomfret, Connecticut. When the news of Lexington reached him 
he was plowing a field. He took the horse out of the plow, jumped on his 
back, and leaving orders for the militia company to follow him, was off at 
once for the scene of action. 



142 



ESTABLISHMENT OF ^TIIE UNION. 



eral, Warren, and about four hundred and fifty men had been 

killed, wounded, or captured. The British loss was 

^yyg ' more than twice as great. It was a bold movement 

of the Americans, and the colonial militia had stood 

the fire of the I>ritish rei^Milars. 




The Washington Elm and Headquarters. 



26. Washington takes Command. — AYlien Wnsliincrton heard 
this, he was .i^reatly enconracjed. On the 3d day of 

irjrjr * July he took command of the American army, beneath 

an elm tree still standi nc^ by Cambridge Common. 

He found a crowd of brave, undisciplined^ soldiers, ill provided 

1 How nnrlisfiplined thoy were may be seen by an incident which a visitor 
to the camp reports. He overheard this dialogue between a captain and one 
of the privates nnder him : 

" Bill," said the captain, " go and hrin's^ a pail of water for the men." 
"I shan't," said Bill. "It's yonr turn now, captain : I j?ot it last time." 
But Washinfrton soon saw that there was stuff in iho sturdy men. He wrote to 
Congress : " I have a sincere pleasure in ohsf^rving that there are materials for 



THE FIRST liES! STANCE. 



143 



Oct. 17, 
1775. 



with arms, ammunition, and provisions. His first business was 
to organize them into an army, while he kept watch of the 
British in Boston. 

The British army did not come out from the town ; but some 
of the vessels which blockaded- the harbor were sent down the 
coast and burned the town of Falmouth, 
now Portland, Maine. This 
was a direct act of war. It 
did much to weaken the lin- 
gering hope of some Americans that 
the trouble was confined to Boston, 
and that there would be no general 
war. 

27. Movements in Other Directions. — 
Meantime the Americans had not been 
idle elsewhere. Ethan Allen, at the 
head of a party of mountaineers, sur- 
prised the British garrison at 



Fort Ticonderoga, and cap- ™f- ' 
tured that fort as well as 
Crown Point. These were on the old 
route to Canada; and men who had 
fought in the French and Indian War 
were eager to get possession of that 
country. 

General Montgomery moved down 
Lake Champlain and captured Mon- 
treal. Benedict Arnold se- 
cured Washington's approval, ^Z'rj^ ' 
and w^ith some of the forces 
which were besieging Boston, made a 
terrible march through the wilderness 
of Maine to the St. Lawrence. He followed the plan Wolfe 




Arnold's Route. 



a good army, a great number of able-bodied men, active, zealous in the cause, 
and of unquestionablecourage." Washington's account of tlie army as he found 
it at Cambridge is reprinted from his letters in Old South Leaflets, No. 47. 



144 ESTABLISHMENT OP THE UNION. 

had adopted, and occupied the Plains of Abraham. Arnold 
reached Quebec just as Montgomery entered Montreah 

It was intended that the two armies should unite; but 
Arnold could not hold his position, and retreated to a less 
exposed place. After Montgomery arrived from Montreal, an 
attack was made upon Quebec ; but it was disastrous. Mont- 
gomery was killed, the British army was reenforeed, and the 

Americans were obliged 
to abandon Canada. 
28. England's Reply to 

America If any still 

hoped that England 
would yield, they were 
convinced that the hope 
was vain when they 
heard how the address 
of Congress to the king 
had been received. The 
king returned no an- 
swer, but notified Par- 
liament that the colonies 
were in a state of re- 
bellion. He announced 
that he should at once 
increase his forces in 

, ^ , ^ ,0.. ,. , ,r,.r, America and crush the 

Edmund Burke. Born 1729; died 1797. , „. 

rebellion. 
And yet the cause of the Americans was upheld by some 
of the greatest Englishmen of the day, who perceived clearly 
that the cause was one of free government, and that England 
was deeply concerned. Edmund Burke, one of the most far- 
sighted statesmen of the time, spoke earnestly in Parliament 
against the policy the king was pursuing.^ The Earl of Chat- 
ham, also, in the House of Lords, though failing in strength 

1 See especially his great speech on Conciliation with the Colonies, delivered 
March 22, 1775. 




THE FIRST RESISTANCE. 145 

of body was unceasing in his opposition to the repressive 
policy.^ 

29. A Union Flag and the Siege of Boston raised On the 

first of January, 1776, Washington caused a flag to be adopted 
by his army, with thirteen red and white stripes and the Brit- 
ish union jack in the corner. Early in March, Washington 
was ready to drive the British out of Boston. He now had 
cannon, which had been dragged over the snow from Ticonder- 
oga, and he proceeded to occupy Dorchester Heights, over- 
looking the harbor. General Howe, who had succeeded Gen- 
eral Gage, saw that he must fight at a great disadvantage or 
abandon the town. He gathered his forces, took to the fleet, 
and sailed away. With him went those families which had 
remained loyal to the king. The siege of Boston was raised. 
There was now open war between the two countries ; but after 
this Massachusetts scarcely knew the presence of soldiers. It 
became the policy of England to strike at the heart of the 
colonies.^ 

1 Franklin wrote to a friend in England in October, 1775: " Britain, at the 
expense of three millions, has killed a hundred and fifty Yankees this cam- 
paign, which is £20,000 a head ; and at Bunker Hill she gained a mile of ground, 
all of which she lost again by our taking post on Ploughed Hill. During the 
same time <)0, 000 children have been born in America." From these data he 
would have a friend calculate "the time and expense necessary to kill us all 
and conquer the whole of our territory.'* 

* One of Cooper's novels, Lionel Lincoln, has to do with this period. 

QUESTIONS. 

The Stamp Act having been repealed, what action did Parliament take 
to raise revenue in America ? What was its general attitude toward the 
colonies? Who controlled the action of Parliament ? What was the 
effect of sending regiments to Boston ? Name the two Massachusetts 
men of prominence who played opposite parts at this time. What were 
committees of correspondence ? Narrate the steps that led to the tax on 
tea. How was the act of Pai'liament received in America? What took 
place in Boston ? What punishment did government inHict on Boston 
for its action ? What further policy did Parliament pursue in support of 
its authority ? How did the people of Massachusetts meet the situation ? 



146 ESTABLIi^iUMENT Ob\ THE UNION. 

What gave rise to the first Continental Congress ? Narrate the events 
which occurred at Lexington and Concord. Describe the incidents of the 
retreat of the British. What effect did the affair have on the country 
people ? Where was the chief camp of the patriots formed ? Repeat the 
lines on the Concord monument. What was going on «Tt this time in 
Philadelphia ? What was the effect upon Congress of the fighting in 
Massachusetts ? How did Washington come to be conspicuous in Con- 
gress? Narrate the events of the battle of Bunker Hill. When diil 
Washington get news of the battle, and on what day did he take com- 
mand of the army ? How did tlie British forces further estrange the 
people ? What forts did Ethan Allen and his men capture ? Narrate the 
attempt of Montgomery and Arnold to capture Canada. What was 
England's reply to the address of Congress ? What was the end of the 
siege of Boston ? 

SEARCH QUESTIONS. 

What were the Mecklenburg resolutions ? How did the personal 
characteristics of George III. enter into the great question of governing 
America ? Sam Adams is said to have originated the caucus ; what 
was the origin of the word ? State the plan of conciliation which Burko 
proposed. Was the British attack on Bunker Hill well planned from a 
military point of view ? What is the story of the Boston boys having 
their coast spoiled by British soldiers? What were the non-importation 
agreements made by the colonists after the repeal of the Stamp Act ? 



SUGGESTIONS FOR LITERARY TREATMENT. 

Compositions : 

An account of the meeting at the Old South, December IG, 1773 

A prose version of the warning of Lexington by Paul Revere. 

Life in Boston during the siege. 

Imaginary letter from a British soldier in the battle of Bunker Hill. 

Imaginary letter of a minute man in the battle of Bunker Hill. 

An account of the retreat of the British from Concord to Charlestown. 

A sketch of the life of Israel Putnam. 

Debates : 

Besolvecf, That Parliament had the same right to control the colonies 
that the United States Congress has to govern the territories. 

Besolved, That the tax of threepence per pound on tea should have 
been paid by the Americans. 



CHAPTER IV 



THE DECLAIMTION OF INDEPENDENCE. 



Moultrie (moo'tri). 
Kosciusko (kos-si-us'ko). 
Kalb. Sometimes De Kalb. 
Steuben (stfi'ben). 
Pulas'ki. 



Marquis de la Fayette (mar-kee' 
de-la- fa-yet'). But the English 
form {mar'quis) is commonly 
used, and the French name writ- 
ten as one word, Lafayette. 



30. Movements of the British. — When General Howe left 
Boston he carried his army to Halifax ; but it was well under- 
stood that his plan was to take possession of New York. The 
patriots there had been busy, ever since the fight at Concord, 
raising an army, and throwing up fortifications. Washington 
hurried forward his troops, and prepared to defend the town, 
and the mouth of the Hudson. 

Meanwhile the British had sent an expedition to secure 
the Southern colonies. The fleet appeared off the harbor of 
Charleston, but the people erected defenses with great 
energy. When the British made their attack. Colonel yjno ' 
Moultrie, commanding at Sullivan's Island, gallantly 
repulsed them. They could not capture the town, and so sailed 
away for Xew York, where they were to join Howe. 

31. The Formation of States. — All this time the Continental 
Congress was in session at Philadelphia. Heretofore each 
colony had been governed in the name of the king ; courts were 
held and the laws were executed in his name. Now that there 
was open rebellion against the king's authority, all this must be 
changed. The people had their legislatures ; they had all the 
machinery of government; and by the advice of the Conti- 
nental Congress the colonies quickly formed themselves into 
States. 

147 



148 ESTABLISHMENT OF^ THE UNION. 

South Carolina was the first to adopt a constitution for its 
government. It did this with the distinct purpose of carrying 
on the government only till there should be reconcili- 
^^^J'^' ation with England, for which it still hoped. Ehode 
Island was the first publicly to declare its absolute 
independence of the crown. Immediately afterwards the Con- 
tinental Congress advised all the colonies to set up 
■^^}^' their own governments. Before the close of 1776, 
six of the colonies had adopted State constitutions. 
Three others did the same in 1777. Two only, Connecticut and 
Rhode Island, continued into the next century to carry on 
their governments under the old royal charters; but they 
omitted the king's name from legal and business papers. 

32. The Question of Independence Some of the colonies 

when they became transformed into States instructed their 
delegates in Congress to declare for independence. Still there 
were many persons who clung to the hope that difficulties 
might yet be settled, and the old relations with England 
restored. One of the most effective arguments employed in 
favor of independence was a small pamphlet by Thomas 
Paine, to which he gave the name Common Sense} 

On the seventh day of June, 1776, Eichard Henry Lee, act- 
ing under instructions from Virginia, submitted this resolution 
to Congress, "that these United Colonies are, and of right 
ought to be, free and independent states ; that they are absolved 
from all allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political 
connection between them and the State of Great Britain is, and 
ought to be, totally dissolved." 

Thereupon Congress agreed to consider definitely the ques- 
tion of independence, but it took a recess of three weeks to 
give the delegates an opportunity to go back to the people and 

1 The pamphlet was published anonymously. It had a good deal of foolish 
abuse, but it argued that common sense should lead the Americans to seek 
independence, and it pointed out that inasmuch as the Americans acknowl- 
edged the king, though they were fighting to resist Parliament, no foreign 
nation would interfere in their behalf. The essay was written in plain, direct 
English, which made it very popular and intelligibleo 



DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE. 149 

leai'u what was the general judgmeut. When the members 
returned to their seats, there was no h)nger any doubt what 
course should be pursued. In different parts of the country, 
in town meetings, county meetings, and provincial congresses, 
resolutions were passed declaring that the time had come for 
the colonies to separate from Great Britain. 

33. The Declaration of Independence The delegates w^ere by 

no means unanimous. There were able men who still urged 
more moderation. John Dickinson, of Pennsylvania, advised 
a more solid confederation first. But the great fact remained 
that all the colonies had practically become independent. On 
the second day of July, 1776, a final vote was taken, and Con- 
gress adopted a Declaration of Independence, written mainly by 
Thomas Jefferson, of Virginia.^ It declared what were the nat- 
ural rights of all men ; it recited the acts of George III., King 
of Great Britain, by which he had abused his authority over the 
colonies and deprived them of their rights and authority. It 
reminded the world how patiently the colonies had borne their 
injuries. It told of the petitions they had addressed to the 
king, which had no answer except new injuries. It showed 
that the colonies had appealed, not to the king only, but to 
their brethren, the people of England ; but that all had been 
in vain. Therefore, as representatives of the United States 
OF America, in general congress assembled, the delegates 
published this declaration of the independence of the States. 

1 Thomas Jefferson was born in Albemarle Co., Virginia, April 2, 1743. He 
was a graduate of William and Mary College, where he was a hard student 
as well as a good horseman and hunter, and what was less common, an excel- 
lent performer on the violin. His father died in his early manhood, and 
Jefferson came into the management of a large estate. He took his seat with 
AVashington in the Virginia House of Burgesses, and on becoming a public 
man he made a resohition which, fifty years after, he said he had always 
kept, "never to engage while in public office in any kind of enterprise for the 
improvement of my fortune." His marriage brought him still more wealth. 
In January, 1779, he was governor of Virginia, and this history refers to him 
more than once. He was a man of scientific habit of mind, and one of his 
most useful contributions was our decimal system of coinage. See Morse's 
Tliomas Jejj'erson. 



150 ESTABLISHMENT 03 THE UNION. 

They appealed to the Supreme Judge of the world, and ended 
with these words: " With a firm reliance on the protection 
of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our 
lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor." 




Thomas Jefferson. 

The Fourth of July, 1776. — The Declaration was agreed to 
on the 4th of July. Later in the session it was signed by John 
Hancock of Massachusetts, President of Congress, and by fifty- 
five delegates from the thirteen colonies. Every man who 



DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE. 151 

signed it knew that if independence were not secured he would 
be in peril of being hanged as a rebel and traitor.^ A great 
crowd was gathered before the State House in Philadelphia, 
where Congress held its sessions. From the balcony the Decla- 
ration of Independence 
was read, and the bell 
in the tower rang out 
the news. 

From that time the 
State House began to 
be called Independence 
Hall. The 4th of July 
has ever since been cele- 
brated as the birthday 
of the nation. One im- 
portant consequence of 
the formal Declaration 
of Independence was 
that it divided the peo- 
ple of the country into 
patriots and loyalists. 
No one could any lon- 
ger persuade himself 

f, ^ \ , , John Hancock. Born 1737 ; died 1793. 

that he was a loyal 

subject of Great Britain when he was making war upon her, 

34. The Loyalists In the eyes of Great Britain those who 

called themselves patriots in America were rebels ; the real 
patriots were the loyalists. Many of these were sincere well- 

1 John Hancock's signature was a very bold one, and he said the King of 
England could read it ^vithout spectacles. When the members were about to 
sign, Hancock said: "We must be unanimous; there must be no pulling dif- 
ferent ways; we must all hang together." "Yes," said Franklin, "we must 
indeed all hang together, or most assuredly we shall all hang separately." 
One of the signatures, that of Charles Carroll of Maryland, was that of a 
partly palsied hand and looked thus rather trembling. The story goes that 
some one jocosely remarked this, and Carroll added to the signature " of Car- 
roUtou " that there might be no mistake as to who he was. 




152 ESTABLISHMENT OF* THE UNION. 




Independence Hall, 1776. 

wishers to America when they held by the crown. To them, it 
seemed as if the great British empire were being dismembered 
by the unwise action of their hot-headed countrymen. They 
had no wish to. have an independent nation ; the}^ were content 
to remain as they were. Others among them took a narrow 
view, and thought only of their personal comfort and fortune. 
^Nearly all suffered the loss of property, and many became exiles.^ 
35. The Formation of a Confederation. — The constitutions 
which the States formed were afterward revised from time to 
time ; but they all had one feature in common : whereas the 

1 The diaries of some who went to London are pathetic with the expression 
of homesickness for America, while some show a bitterness of feeling. The 
most important account of the loyalists is to be found in Sabine's American 
Loyalists. Long after the Revolution there lived two old ladies in Boston, who 
were daughters of Mather Byles, a loyalist minister. To the day of their 
death they made believe as hard as the*^ could that there had been no Revo- 
lution, and when King William IV. came to the throne in 1830, they wrote to 
him telling him he still had loyal subjects in America. On the 4th of July 
they closed their blinds and tied them with black ribbons. 



DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE. 153 

charters of the colonies derived their authority from the king, 
the constitutions of the States recognized the supreme au- 
thority of the people. The States proceeded to manage their 
own affairs very much as the colonies had done, each inde- 
pendently of the others. But they needed a common power 
in dealing with the enemy, and a common authority in treat- 
ing with other nations. 

The Continental Congress was the most convenient means 
at first. It had, by common consent, brought all the colonial 
troops into one army, and it had made a Declaration of Inde- 
pendence in the name of all the colonies.^ It was clear that 
Congress could act and speak with power only when all the 
States were agreed. If they disagreed, there was no higher 
authority which could keep them together. The war and a 
common enemy now held them in union ; but that could not 
last, and Congress recommended that the States should form a 
confederation. - 

It drew up thirteen articles of confederation, which, when 
accepted by all, were to be the rules by which the States should 
be governed in what related to their common interests. 
It did not propose that the Confederation should have h°™ ' 
anything to do with the management of those affairs 
in each State which concerned only the citizens of that State. 
To the Confederation they gave the name of the United States 
of America. The United States was to treat with foreign 
powers; declare war; appoint officers in the army and navy; 
direct military operations ; levy taxes ; fix the standard of 
money, weights, and measures; manage Indian affairs; and 
establish post offices. 

This was in name very much the same authority which the 

1 Congress emphasized the union of the colonies by providing a symbol in 
the form of our present flag, which was developed out of the one raised by 
Washington when he was in command of the army in Cambridge. It retained 
the stripes, but in place of the British union jack it represented the thirteen 
states by thirteen stars. This was the final mark of complete independence. 
The flag has remained the same ever since, except that a new star has been 
added for every new State. Congress adopted the flag Juue 14, 1777. 



154 ESTABLISHMENT OF t'HE UNION. 

king and Parliament of Great Britain had formerly exercised 
in the colonies ; but it was not the same in power. The States 
which had just rebelled against the tyranny of the king were 
very careful not to give the Confederation or Congress too 
much power; all the States together should not compel any 
one State to act against its will. Thus, though they called 
these articles the Articles of Confederation and Perpetual 
Union, they had really formed only a league of friendship. 

It was the first and most important step toward real union ; 
and the name which they chose, the United States of America, 
came at last to have a full meaning. At first it meant only 
that the several States in America were united in a common 
cause against a common enemy. The articles were accepted 
by eleven of the States in 1778, and by the thirteenth in 1781. 

Attempts were made to persuade Canada to join the Confed- 
eration. But the Canadian people were chiefly Frenchmen, 
who had little in common with their English neighbors. They 
had never governed themselves, and made no great objection 
now to being governed by England. 

36. Diplomatic Relations with Europe. — Before the Decla- 
ration of Independence had been made, there had been in 
Congress what was known as the Committee of Secret Corre- 
spondence. Its business was to seek the friendly aid of foreign 
nations, especially of France and Holland: of France, be- 
cause she was the enemy of England ; of Holland, because the 
merchants of that country were rich and might lend money to 
the United States. This committee had sent agents to Europe. 

Now that the United States professed to be one of the na- 
tions of the world. Congress determined to send commissioners 
to form alliances and make treaties. The States were indeed 
still a part of Europe. Their commerce was with that country ; 
their manufactured articles came from there. Though they 
had a country and began to call themselves Americans, the 
world to them was on the other side of the Atlantic. 

Franklin in France. — The one man to whom everybody 
looked as the representative of America in Europe was Ben- 



DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE. 155 

jamin Franklin. He was now seventy years of age. He was 
the only American whose name was universally known and 
honored in Europe. Besides, he had long been an agent for 
American colonies in England, and he knew, better than any 
one else, the ways of kings and courts. Franklin was sent to 
France at the end of 1776. 

The King of France and his counselors were not ready to aid 
the new republic openly, for to do that would be to run the 
risk of war with England. But the French people were stirred 
with enthusiasm. Many of their own nation had written of 
liberty; here was a nation in America fighting for liberty. 
The Declaration of Independence was read everywhere, and 
Franklin was received as a hero. 

37. Foreign Officers in the Continental Army. — There was 
peace throughout Europe now, after a period of war. Thus 
there were many soldiers and officers without employment. 
Great numbers flocked to America to join the army. Some 
went from love of adventure, some from a sincere enthusiasm 
for liberty. Among the most notable of the officers were 
Kosciusko, Pulaski, Kalb, Steuben, and Lafayette. 

Kosciusko and Pulaski were Poles who had fought in vain 
for the freedom of Poland. Kalb was a German who had re- 
cently been a secret agent of France sent to America to inquire 
into the condition of affairs there. Steuben was a German, a 
soldier by profession. He had learned the art of war under 
the greatest of European generals, Frederick the Great, King 
of Prussia. 

The Marquis de la Fayette was a young French noble- 
man, full of fiery zeal for freedom. He gave his money, and 
though his friends and the court tried to dissuade him, he 
gave himself; he crossed the Atlantic, and from the first 
made himself the warm friend of Washington. He was a 
brave, cheerful leader of men. 

Congress found it hard work to give a place to every French 
and German officer who applied for service. There was much 
jealousy shown by Americans, But the best of these foreign- 



15G 



ESTABLISHMENT OF*THE UNION. 



ers were of great value; they helped in training an army of 
courageous but unskilled men, and in leading them against 
the regular troops brought into the field by Great Britain. 




Lafayette. Born 1757 ; died 1834. 

QUESTIONS. 

What were the movements of General Howe after he left Boston ? 
What Southern town did the British attack ? How were the colonies 
turned into States ? How did the idea of independence grow ? How 
did Congress find out the public sentiment ? What was the Declaration 



DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE. 1;37 

of Independence ? How did it close ? Who signed the document ? Why 
did it require courage to do so ? What was done by the people of Phila- 
delphia ? What was the position of the loyalists ? What is a confedera- 
tion ? What chief authority had the colonies when they broke away from 
Great Britain ? What scope did the articles of confederation have ? How 
did the authority of the Confederation compare with tha,t of the king and 
Parliament ? What name was given to the Confederation ? Why did 
not Canada join the Confederation ? How were affairs with foreign 
nations conducted ? When and why was Franklin sent to Europe ? 
What foreigners came over to help us ? Give an account of the leading 
ones. Of what use were these foreigners ? 

SEARCH QUESTIONS. 

What became of the Bostonians who sided with the British govern- 
ment, when Howe sailed away ? Who composed the committee appointed 
to draft the Declaration of Independence ? When the Declaration of 
Independence is read in public now on the Fourth of July, how much of 
it pertains to general problems, and how much to the particular historical 
event of the separation of the colonies from Great Britain ? Repeat the 
exact language of the first two paragraphs. Who was the King of France 
at the beginning of the American Revolution ? How old were the follow- 
ing on July 4, 1770 : Franklin, Washington, John Adams, Sam Adams, 
Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, Patrick Henry, Alexander Hamil- 
ton '? What was the contest in Poland that finally brought Kosciusko 
and Pulaski to this country ? 

SUGGESTIONS FOR LITERARY TREATMENT. 

Compositions : 

An analysis of the Declaration of Independence, showing its different 
parts. 

Sketch of the life of Lafayette. 

A letter from a boy who heard the Declaration read in Philadelphia. 

The after history of Liberty Bell. 

Historical footnotes to the Declaration, giving examples of the several 
indictments of the king. 

Debates : 

Besolved, That the loyalists were patriots. 

Hesolved, That it would have been of great advantage to the Confed- 
eration if Canada had joined it. 

Hesolved, That John Hancock was a rebel. 



CHAPTER V. 



THE WAR FOR INDEPENDENCE.! 



Hesse-Cassel (hess-cas'sel). A 
principality in the western part 
of Germany. 

Stat'en. A Dutch word for 
" States." Its original form was 
8taaten. 

Schuyler (skl'ler). 

St. Leger (sant lej'er). 

Her'kimer. 

Oris'kany. 

Cabal (€a-bal'). A number of per- 
sons joined in a secret plot for 
their own advancement. 



Court-martialed. Tried by court- 
martial, that is, by a court within 
the army for the trial of offenses 
against military discipline. 

Marque (mark). 

Bon Homme Richard (boij om re- 
shar'). 

Sera'pis. The name of an Egyptian 
deity. 

Andre (an'dra). 

De Grasse (de gras). 

Gloucester (glos'ter). 

Rochambeau (ro-shan-bo ). 



38. King George III. and his Hessians. — The people had 
declared they were independent of Great Britain; they must 
make good their words by hard lighting, for the king and 
Parliament had no intention of letting the colonies go. There 
was indeed a party in England, as we have seen, opposed to 
the king's policy. It grew stronger year by year. In it were 
men who said that if the king subdued the Americans he 
would increase his own personal power. Then Englishmen 
might lose their liberty, as they had come nea,r losing it under 
Charles I. and again under Charles II. 



1 The most satisfactory work dealing with the war and with the causes that 
led up to it is John Fiske's The American Revolution. The same writer has, 
however, written a brief book for young readers entitled The War of Inde- 
pendence. Another useful work is G. W. Greene's A Historical Vierv of the 
American Revolution. Winsor's Reader^s Handbook of the American Revo- 
lution is an excellent companion, for it is a bibliography of all the works of 
various sorts that may be consulted for this period. An admirable narrative 
is The Boys of '76. 

158 



THE WAR FOR INDEPENDENCE. 159 

King George III. was an upright man, but narrow-minded 
and stubborn. He refused, to listen to men who counseled 
conciliation, and was resolved to conquer his rebellious sub- 
jects. He did not care where his soldiers came from, so long 
as they fought for him ; and he hired whole regiments of men 
from German princes, especially from the Prince of Hesse- 
Cassel, whose subjects were called Hessians. 

Such was the miserable condition of the common people 
in many parts of Europe, that these Hessian soldiers were 
almost as much the property of the prince as if they had been 
his slaves. He gave them to King George in return for 
money. The Americans, fighting for their liberty, were made 
angry by the sight of armies filled with men v/ho had been 
hired to fight them.^ 

39. The Battle of Long Island. — In carrying on the war 
against the colonies, England had the advantage of control of 
the seacoast. She could transport her troops to America and 
shift them from one port to another; for there were no forts 
worth speaking of, and the Americans at the end of 1776 had 
only thirteen ships in the navy, although some of the colonies 
had a few active privateersmen. With their navy and their 
land forces the English undertook to occupy the main points 
on the seaboard, and from these as bases to move into the 
interior. 

The first campaign was directed toward the occupation of 
New York and the possession of the Hudson. In August, 
1776, Sir William Howe, the commander-in-chief of the Brit- 
ish forces, entered New York harbor with an army of twenty- 
five thousand. His brother, Lord Howe, accompanied him 
with a great fleet. The troops were landed on Staten Island. 
The American army, less than ten thousand strong, was in- 

1 The most thorough account of the part played by the Hessians is in The 
German Allied Troops in the North American Wur of Independence. Many 
of the soldiers remained in America after the war and became good American 
citizens. Many officers tui-ned their experience to good account in the defense 
of Germany during the French Revolution. 



160 ESTABLISHMENT OFl THE UNION. 

trenched on Long Island and the heights overlooking New 
York. The two British commanders opened negotiations with 
General Washington. They had been instructed to propose 
conditions of peace, but they had no authority to grant inde- 
pendence, and Washington refused any other terms. ^ 

The whole Britisli army then crossed the bay and landed 
on Long Island, south of Brooklyn. General Israel Putnam 
was in command of Brooklyn Heights, and General Sullivan, 
with a smaller force, held the roads leading to the Heights 
from the south. Earthworks extended from Wallabout Bay, 
the site of the present navy yard, to near the site of South 
Ferry. 

On August 27, General Howe surrounded General Sullivan's 
force and won the battle of Long Island, capturing more than 
a thousand men, including Sullivan himself. Howe did not 
advance at once on the Heights, but set about laying siege. 
The position could not possibly be held by Putnam, especially 
in the presence of the fleet, and on the night of August 29, 
under cover of fog and rain, Washington withdrew the entire 
army, and slowly retreated up New York island, while Howe 
followed him. 

40. Captain Nathan Hale. — It was during his retreat that 
an event occurred which showed how much Americans were 
willing to venture and how bravely they could die for the 
cause in which they were engaged. A young Connecticut 
soldier, a Yale student. Captain Nathan Hale, had volun- 
teered to go within the British lines on Long Island 
^y^'J?' that he might learn the position of the enemy. On 
the way back he was arrested. No trial was allowed 
him. He was not shot as a soldier, but was hanged. "I only 

1 When General Howe sent a communication to Washington he addressed 
it to " George Washington, Esq." The American officer refused to receive it, 
and sent it back. Then General Howe tried " George Washington, Esq., etc., 
etc.," as if these et ceteras would cover any possible title. But Washington 
still refused to receive a letter so addressed. The British officer was trying to 
avoid recognition of the American as an officer and general. Congress passed 
a resolution approving Washington's course. 



THE WAB FOR INDEPENDENCE. 



161 




Nov. 16, 
1776. 



regret," he said, as he was 
about to die, "that I have 
but one life to give for my 
country." 

41. The Operations about New 

York and in New Jersey New 

York remained in the enemy's 
hands during the rest of the 
war. For two months after 
the battle of Long Island the 
two armies confronted each 
other, Washington aiming to 
hold his little forces together 
and to avoid a general engage- 
ment. A battle was 
fought at White 
Plains, October 29, 
in which Howe forced Wash- 
ington back, but did not pur- 
sue his advantage. There 
were two forts on opposite 
banks of the Hudson, Fort 
Washington on the east bank, 
and Fort Lee on the west, A 
traitor in Fort Washington 
had carried plans of the fort 
to the enemy, and Howe sud- 
denly attacked the place and 
captured it with its garrison of nearly three thousand men. 
This rendered Fort Lee useless, and it was abandoned. 

The British now had control of the river, and Washing- 
ton retreated slowly through New Jersey, followed by the 
enemy, until early in December he crossed the Delaware 
River near Trenton. Howe now tliought the campaign over, 
and went into winter quarters. The succession of disasters, 
beginning with the battle of Long Island, greatly discouraged 




Statue of Nathan Hale. 



162 



ESTABLISHMENT OF^THE UNION. 



the Americans. The army was very imperfectly clad and 
equipped. Many of the soldiers marched with bare, bleed- 
ing feet along the frozen roads. The people in New Jersey 
were in a panic, and in many 
cases accepted the pardon offered 
by Howe. 

To add to Washington's trou- 
bles, General Charles Lee, the 
second in command, had repeat- 
edly disregarded his or- 
ders to join him with his 
forces, and at last was 
surprised and taken pris- 
oner. It was suspected 
then, and known 
certainly long af- 
terward, that he 
was a traitor to 




the American cause. Yet he was exchanged for a British officer 

a few months after his ca])ture and returned to his command. 

Battles of Trenton and Princeton. — Washington had made a 

series of masterly retreats. Now he revived the spirits of 



THE WAR FOn INDEPENDENCE. 



leg 



his countrymen by a brilliant advance. Suddenly, on Christ- 
mas night, he recrossed the Delaware,^ surprised the 
enemy in camp at Trenton, and took a thousand ™cj ' 
prisoners This bold stroke annoyed and alarmed 
the British. Cornwallis was sent to capture the American 
army, but Washington made a forced march, and 
defeated and scattered the British forces at Prince- ^^'nq 
ton. There were only eight days between the two 
battles. Washington then went into winter quarters at Morris- 
town, a controlling position. Howe, instead of occupying all 
New Jersey, as he had supposed he should, found himself 
cooped up at Brunswick and Amboy. The whole country was 
cheered by these successes. 




VICINITY OF 

PHILADELPHIA 

SCALE OF MILES 



42. The Campaign in the North. — When the spring of 1777 
opened, the British formed a plan of campaign, by which, first, 

1 Great blocks of ice were swirling along in the river. General John Glover, 
with his fisherman soldiers from Cape Ann, in Massachusetts, managed the 
ferrying across. 



164 



ESTABLISHMENT OF. THE UNION. 









they should cut off New England from the rest of the Con- 
federation, and second, they should take possession of Phila- 
delphia, where Congress was sitting. The great highway 
between the two parts of the country was that narrow belt 

which lies between the 
w^aters of Lake George and 
the navigable waters of the 
Hudson. 

To hold this belt was to 
hold the gateway of the 
North. The plan of the 
British government was to 
send an army by Lake 
Champlain from Canada, 
and another up the Hudson 
from New York; the two 
were to meet, and a third 
division going up the St. 
Lawrence and by Lake 
Ontario was to move down 
the Mohawk Valley and 
join the other two at Al- 
bany. Thus all western 
New York was to be sub- 
dued to English rule.^ 

Capture of Ticonderoga. — 
The English general, Bur- 
goyne, left the northern 
point of Lake Champlain, 
on his southward way, 




_e6\^^J><n 



Crown Point and Ticonderoga. 



early in June. He had with him an army of eight thousand 
men, half of whom were Germans. He was accompanied by 
Indian allies, and he had forty pieces of artillery. His first 
movement was against Fort Ticonderoga. The Americans 

^ There is a pleasant story of revolutionary scenes in the Mohawk Valley, 
called Paul and Persis. 



THE WAR FOR INDEPENDENCE. 165 

had failed to secure a liill which commanded it; and when 
Burgoyne took possession of the hil], the garrison 
evacuated the fort. Burgoyne kept on his way ^Jrjrj' 
toward Fort Edward on the Hudson, but the Ameri- 
can general, Philip Schuyler, blocked his way so stubbornly 
that he did not reach Fort Edward till the end of July. 

The Battle of Oriskany. — Meanwhile Colonel St. Leger, at 
the head of the third division, had reached Fort Stanwix, 
near the site of the present town of Rome, and demanded its 
surrender. The commander refused. The patriots in the 
valley had already risen, and were marching under General 
Herkimer to the relief of the fort. The relieving party fell 
into an ambush laid by Joseph Brant, a remarkable Mohawk 
Indian chieftain who was with the British, and the fierce 
battle of Oriskany followed. Herkimer was killed, 
but the Americans won the day. Schuyler sent Bene- T^nnn' 
diet Arnold with twelve hundred men to relieve Fort 
Stanwix, but before they reached the place, St. Leger had 
retreated by the way he came. 

43. Bennington, Brandywine, and Germantown. — Ten days 
after the battle of Oriskany came the less fierce but scarcely 
less important battle of Bennington. Burgoyne sent a de- 
tachment to secure some stores which the Americans had at 
Bennington. The New Hampshire militia and the Green 
Mountain men met and defeated the expedition. 
They were led by General John Stark, of New ?|U„ ' 
Hampshire, who cheered his troops on, when they 
met the British, with the shout, "There are the redcoats! 
Before night they're ours, or Molly Stark's a widow! " 

These successes of the Americans filled them with enthusi- 
asm, and quickened their efforts. The New England States 
feared that Burgoyne intended to march eastward from the 
Hudson, and companies from the towns of Connecticut and 
Massachusetts hurried to join the army. Burgoyne was now 
cut off from retreat the way he had come, and he looked 
anxiously for reenforcements from New York to come up the 



166 



ESTABLISHMENT OW THE UNION. 



MAP OF THE COUNTRY 
BETWEEN 

MONTREAL AND MV YORK 

Seal e c==^=IM 1 le 







(inboj_ 



if^'^'TyHoohOCEA^ 



river. But tliey did not 
come. Washington was keep- 
ing Howe busy all the sum- 
mer, preventing him from 
crossing New Jersey to Phila- 
delphia. 

At last Howe took his army 
from New York by sea, but the 
Americans had placed obstruc- 
tions in the Delaware River; 
so he sailed up the Chesapeake 
and landed his army at Elk- 
ton. Washington, who was 
encamped near Newtown, 
twenty miles above Philadel- 
phia, immediately marched his 
forces southward. He passed 
through the city, and came 
face to face with the enemy 
near Chadd's Ford, on the 
Brandy wine. 

Here a battle was fought, 
which resulted in the defeat 
of the Americans, 



Sept. 11, 
1777. 



who retreated toward 
Chester. Congress 
was alarmed, and hastily left 
Philadelphia for Lancaster, 
and afterward for York. The 
British entered the city; but 
the main army lay near Ger- 

mantown. Washing- 
Oct. 4, . -, 

' ton made an unex- 
pected attack upon 
them, and for a while the 
Americans were victorious: 



TUE WAR FOR INDEPENDENCE. 1G7 

but a fog confused them, and they were forced to retreat to 
the hills above Whitemarsh. 

44. Defeat of Burgoyne The country was greatly depressed 

by the loss of Philadelphia, but the movement of the American 
army there had effectually prevented Howe from sending a 
large force from New York up the Hudson to support Bur- 
goyne. It is true that he had received no orders from London 
to do this; by a blunder, orders were sent to Burgoyne to move 
south to meet Howe, but none to Howe to meet Burgoyne. Of 
his own accord, however, he sent a small force when he could 
spare it, under General Clinton. 

It was too late. Clinton went as far only as Kingston, for 
Burgoyne was defeated in a series of engagements, and sur- 
rendered to General Gates at Saratoga, October 17, 1777. 
Gates was an ambitious, scheming man, who had scarcely 
anything to do with the victory; that was due largely to the 
bravery of General Arnold and the good generalship of Gen- 
eral Schuyler, who was removed from the head of the army 
just as all tilings were ripe for final victory. 

45, The Alliance with France. — The surrender of Burgoyne 
proved to be the turning point of the war. It gave artillery 
and arms to the American army, it encouraged the soldiers, 
and it made a great impression in Europe. In England the 
opposition party was strengthened, and men began to talk 
loudly of making peace. In France the government 

no longer held back. A formal alliance was entered ■\nnc{ 
into with the United States, by which the king, 
Louis XVI., pledged himself to furnish men, ships, and money 
to complete the war. 

The Position of England. — As soon as the action of Louis 
XVI. was known, England declared war on France. The eyes 
of all England were now turned to the Earl of Chatham, as the 
one statesman who could take the helm, a man feared by 
France and admired by Americans. But King George, whose 
insanity was gaining on him, hated the Earl of Chatham with 
a furious hatred, and utterly refused to call him to his aid as 



168 ESTABLISHMENT OF, THE UNION. 

prime minister.^ He might even have been compelled to call 
him, and Chatham might even then have restored peace and 
formed some kind of union between Great Britain and Amer- 
ica, but he died shortly after,^ Lord North continued in 
power, and lamely tried to win over the United States by send- 
ing commissioners to treat with the rebels, though without 
offering independence. The commissioners were received with 
contempt. 

46. Valley Forge and the Conway Cabal While this was 

going on in Europe, the winter was passing in America, and 
bringing with it severe trials to the American army. The 
British army was comfortably quartered in New York and 
Philadelphia. Washington, with the principal American 
forces, had gone into winter quarters at Valley Forge, 

' a place chosen as the best point from which to watch 
1 77ft 

* the movements of the British in Philadelphia. 

The first enthusiasm of the war had been spent. The 
great men who had sat in Congress were no longer there. 
Some had been ,sent on missions to Europe; some were 
busy in their States. The Confederation had no money. 
No revenue was coming in, for there was but little com- 
merce. Each State needed all the money it could raise 
from its own citizens. Congress therefore borrowed money 
abroad and at home. It could only give its promises to pay 
when peace should come, and these promises seemed to people 
worth less and less. How could Congress redeem its promises 
even if peace should come? Congress had no power; it was 
only a committee of the States. It was the army, and not 
Congress, which was to win peace. 

There was no money to pay the soldiers or to buy food 

i"This episode appears to ine the most criminal in the whole reign of 
George III., and in my own judgment it is as criminal as any of those acts 
which led Charles to the scaffold." This is the opinion of a recent English 
histoiian, Mr. Lecky, in his History of England in the Eighteenth Century, 
Vol. IV., p. 83. 

2 See a splendid passage in Chapter VIII. of Fiske's The American Revo- 
lution^ 



TUE WAR FOR INDEPENDENCE. 



169 



and clothing for them. The country people were tempted 
by the gold of the British, and turned away from the paper 
money of Congress. Their provisions 
found their way into Philadelphia, and 
not to the bleak camp at Valley Forge. 
In this time of general discouragement, 
meaner spirits came to the front, and 
murmurs arose against Washington. A 
plot was formed by some of the officers, 
which was called, from the name of one 
of them, the Conway Cabal. The -de- 
sign was to displace Washingtou, and 
put Gates at the head of the army. It 
was a plot of officers only; the common 
soldiers took no part in it. The cabal 
failed utterly. It was rebuked in Con- 
gress ; the officers who took part in it 
tried to win over Lafayette, but that 
soldier was loyal to his great chief. ^ 

Sufferings of the Soldiers The Con- 
tinental army, half clad, half fed, 
housed only in canvas tents and a few 
log huts, wore through the terrible win- 
ter in the bleak country. The blood 
from their naked feet stained the snow. 




A Soldier in the Continental 
Army. 

To overcome such 



1 The intrigue brought out the loyalty of Washington's friends. A motion 
was before Congress, presented by one of the cabal, which Avas hostile to 
Washington. His friends bestirred themselves. Tliey needed one more vote. 
In their extremity they went to William Duer, a member from New York, who 
was dangerously ill. Duer sent for his doctor. 

" Doctor," he asked, " can I be carried to Congress? " 
" Yes ; but at the risk of your life," Avas the answer. 
" Do you mean that I should expire before reaching the place? " 
" No," came the answer ; " but I would not answer for your leaving it alive." 
" Very well, sir. You have done your duty, and I will do mine ! " exclaimed 
Duer. " Prepare a litter for me ; if you will not, somebody else will, but I 
prefer your aid." Duer had already started, when an absent member came 
back suddenly from the camp, and Duer's services, fortunately, were not 
needed. 



170 ESTABLISHMENT 03 THE UNION. 

misery was to gain fresh, courage. It was at Valley Forge, 
rather than in great battles, that American patriotism showed 
most clearly. In the lonely country, too, there was patriot- 
ism. The women were doing men's work, because the men 
were in the army. The letters which traveled between the 
camp and the country farms are records of patient endurance. 
The great work of the winter was in the drilling and training 
of the ragged regiments at Valley Forge. This was especially 
the work of Steuben, who turned the camp into a great mili- 
tary school; and when the winter was over he had made a 
solid, well-disciplined army.^ 

47. Battle of Monmouth Court House. — The French alliance 
had made America confident of success. A French fleet was on 
its way, and the British government ordered Sir Henry Clin- 
ton, who had succeeded Howe, to concentrate his forces in New 
York. Clinton proposed to cross New Jersey to Sandy Hook, 
where his fleet would transport the troops to New York. 
Washington immediately set his own army in motion to inter- 
cept the British, and fell upon them at Monmouth Court House. 
The battle that followed was a disastrous one for both sides. 

It might have been a victorious one for the Americans, 
^^^®^^' but for the disobedience to Washington's orders 

shown by Charles Lee, who had returned to his com- 
mand and was an active member of the Conway Cabal. Wash- 
ington saved the day, and his army kept the field. From that 
time his supremacy was unquestioned. Lee was court-mar- 
tialed and was deprived of his command for a year. 

48. Actions in 1778. — There were no great engagements 
in the summer of 1778 after Monmouth. Washington took 
up his old position at White Plains and expected, with the 
aid of the French fleet, to reduce New York; but some of 
the vessels were too large to enter the harbor, and the fleet 
went to Newport, where the English destroyed the vessels 
they had there to prevent them from falling into the hands of 
the French. 

1 See Guy Humiihrey Mc Master's poem, "The Old Continentals." 



THE WAR FOR INDEPENDENCE. 171 

A month later General Sullivan, in command of the Ameri- 
can forces in Rhode Island, planned to attack the British 
at Newport, and depended upon the French fleet to aid 
him. But a British fleet came from New York, and the 
French went outside the harbor to attack it. A great storm 
arose which scattered all the vessels. The British 
fleet retired to New York, and the French fleet re- .%'^Jr^ ' 
turned to Newport, but afterward put into Boston 
for repairs; and General Sullivan, after a gallant fight, was 
compelled to retreat. 

The First Campaign in the South. — The British now changed 
their plan of operations. Instead of sending an army to 
attack Washington, they sent an expedition to the South, 
intending to occupy the Southern States. The expedition 
went by sea and captured Savannah. With this 
foothold they recovered possession in Georgia and i^no ' 
set up again the royal governor in that State. 
But they did not at once push operations into the Carolinas. 

49. The Foreign Alliance. — Meanwhile Congress was relying 
largely on France and expecting peace at any moment. The 
people on the seaboard went about their business of farming, 
and left the army to the care of Congress; but though Con- 
gress could borrow some money abroad, it had no power to 
compel the States to raise money. Its own promises to pay, 
in the shape of paper money, or Continental currency, as it 
was called, became so worthless, that the phrase came into 
use, which still lingers, "not worth a Continental." France 
was playing her own game. She was not fighting merel}^ to 
secure the independence of America. She meant that the 
United States should have its western boundary at the Alle- 
ghanies. She intended to recover for herself the great valley 
of the Mississippi, and to further her ends she drew Spain 
into the alliance. 

Operations on the Frontier. — But while France and Spain 
were parceling out the western country between them, the 
people in that vast region were taking affairs into their own 



172 ESTABLISHMENT OF iTHE UNION. 

hands. As early as 1776 the county of Kentucky in the 
State of Virginia had been formed, and in 1778 the frontiers- 
men had been pushing their way into the valleys of the Cum- 
berland, the Kentucky, and the Ohio. The British commander 
at Detroit, Colonel Hamilton, proposed to use the Indians in 
an attack upon the settlements. But the frontiersmen, under 
Greorge Rogers Clark, did not stand on the defensive. 

They carried the war into the country held by the British 
posts, and before the close of 1779 had brought all the region 
now included in Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois under the control 
of the United States. Besides, another expedition had cap- 
tured the English forts on the Mississippi as far south as 
Natchez. All this was important for another reason. The 
conquest and occupation of this region helped to block the 
design of France and Spain to make the Alleghanies the west- 
ern boundary of the new United States. 

50. Wayne's Exploit. — At the East, in the same summer of 
1779, occurred the brilliant exploit of General Anthony Wayne, 
"Mad Anthony Wayne," as he was called, for his daring, in 

the recapture of a half-finished fort at Stony Point 
1779 ' ^^^ *^^^ Hudson, which General Clinton had seized. 

Wayne led his men in the night time up the steep, 
and in half an hour after the first shot was fired, captured the 
fort and all its stores. 

51. Naval Engagements. — At sea there were some remark- 
able engagements. The Americans had little that could be 
called a navy; but Congress issued letters of marque to mer- 
chant vessels. Under these letters the captains had authority 
to make war upon the enemy wherever found. There was of 
course little commerce possible, and many vessels were thus 
turned into privateers. 

The most famous of the captains of such vessels was John 
Paul Jones. ^ He hovered about the English coast, and wrought 
such mischief among the merchantmen that he diminished the 
commerce of some ports one half. Benjamin Franklin, in his 

1 Junes is really the hero in Cooper's exciting story, The Pilot. 



THE WAR FOB INDEPENDENCE. 



173 



familiar papers on frugality, used to begin with the words 
" Poor Eichard says. " So when the King of France gave Jones 
a ship, Jones named it the Bon Homme Richard, which was 
the French way of saying "Poor Richard." The Bon Homme 
Richard had a great hght with the English frigate 
Serapis off the coast of England. The two vessels %qQ ' 
lay alongside of each other, with the muzzles of the 
cannon almost touching. Both crews fought bravely 5 and so 
terrible was the 

fire that when at ».^^ " ^^ " ' " "-^^"^^^ ''''^'^- 'WX^T'i- 
last the Serapis 
surrendered, the 
Bon Homme Rich- 
ard was just ready 
to sink. 

52. Operations in 
the South. — In the 
spring of 1780 the 
British, after a 
two months' siege, 
took Charleston ; 
they were also in 
possession of Sa- 
vannah, and had a 
large army in the 
field. At first it 
was opposed by no 
American army. 
But the patriotic planters gathered in companies, and rode here 
and there under the leadership of daring men like Marion,^ 
Sumter, and Pickens. They harassed the enemy, who might 
be in force, but who could do nothing toward suppressing the 
patriotic spirit of half the people. For the people were 
nearly equally divided in allegiance. Every plantation was 
an armed camp, and neighbor fought neighbor. It was only so 

1 See Ei-yant's stirring poem, " Song of Marion's Men." 




John Panl Jones. Born 1747 i died 1792. 



174 ESTABLISHMENT OF iCHE UNION. 

long as an army on either side occupied a district that the 
district could be said to be for the king or for Congress.^ 

At last an American army came down from the North, 
headed by Kalb. Later Congress sent Gates to take com- 
mand of all the forces in the South. Gates met the 
^^■^Q ' British under Cornwallis, and was disastrously de- 
feated at Camden, in South Carolina, where the brave 
Kalb fell, mortally wounded. The country was greatly de- 
pressed; but worse was to come. 

53. Arnold's Treachery. — Benedict Arnold, a general in the 
American army, was a man of great courage; but he was a 
seltish, cruel, and covetous man, and had come under censure 
for mistionduct while in command at Philadelphia. At his 
request he was transferred to West Point, on the Hudson, a 
post of great importance. It was strongly fortified, and had 
a great deposit of military stores. Here were gathered some 
three thousand men. Arnold had long been in secret commu- 
nication with the British, and now agreed to betray West 
Point into their hands. 

He made the final arrangements with Major John Andre, 
a British officer; but Andre, on his way back to the British 
camp, was stopped by some patriots. They searched 
^17R0^^* ^^^^^j ^^^ found hidden in his stockings papers which 
revealed Arnold's treachery. Andre was tried as a 
spy, condemned, and hanged. Pie was engaged in a detest- 
able business; but the feeling that he was the victim 
17Ro' ^^ ^ mean man has made Americans generous to his 
memory. Arnold fled before he could be arrested. 
The British government paid him a large sum of money and 
gave him a command, but he was despised by the men who 
had bought him.^ 

54. The Southern Campaign. — Arnold's treachery came to 
nothing, and affairs in the South took a turn for the better. 

1 See Kennedy's novel, Horfte-Shoe Robinson. 

2 A Life of Arnold by Isaac N. Arnold gives the facts of his career and 
says the best that can be said for the unhappy man. 



THE WAR FOR INDEPENDENCE. 



IT 



Washington obtained the appointment of General Nathanael 
Greene^ in the place of Gates. Greene showed at once the 
qualities of a great gen- 
eral. He secured ad- 
ditions to the weakened 
Southern army, and be- 
gan a masterly cam- 
paign. In December, 
1780, Greene was at 
Charlotte, North Caro- 
lina, and Cornwallis was 
in South Carolina, mov- 
ing northward. 

Greene divided his 
forces into two bodies. 
His plan was to hover 
about the British army, 
and while avoiding a 
general battle, to harass 
the enemy continually. 
General Greene was in 
command of one divi- 
sion; General Morgan, of the other. In front of Morgan was 
the British officer Tarleton, known as a cruel fighter, 
who had laid waste much of the country. Morgan ^i'^-, ' 
chose his position well, fought the battle of Cowpens 
with splendid bravery, put to rout a fourth part of Corn- 
wallis's army, and joined Greene. 

1 Nathanael Greene, the son of a Rhode Island Quaker, was born May 27, 
1742. He worked at the blacksmith's forge, and was chosen a member of the 
Rhode Island legislature. He joined a local military company and for this 
was expelled from the Society of Friends. He was appointed in command of 
the Rhode Island forces that joined in the siege of Boston and there became 
a fast friend of Washington, who secured his appointment as quartermaster- 
general in 1778. He was in some respects the foremost military genius in the 
war after Washington. At the close of the war he received valuable grants 
of land from Georgia, North Carolina, and South Carolina, and died on his 
estate near Savannah, June 19, 178G. See his Life by his grandson. 




Nathanael Greene. 



176 



ESTABLISHMENT OF .THE UNION. 



Now followed a series of masterly movements by Greene, 
lasting through the winter, the spring, and the following sum- 
mer. With a small, ill-clad, and ill-furnished army, he 
pushed the British from post to post. His final 
^1781 ^' ^^^^^® ^^^^^ Cornwallis was fought at Guilford Court 
House. Although Greene was defeated, Cornwallis 
retired to Wilmington, North Carolina, and finally to Vir- 
ginia. There he was skillfully kept at bay by Lafayette. 
Meanwhile Washington was threatening New York. He 
meant to make General Clinton believe that he intended to at- 
tack him from the land, 
while Count de Grasse, 
in command, of the 
French fleet, attacked 
him by sea. This was 
to prevent Clinton from 
sending any troops to 
Cornwallis. The feint 
succeeded so well that 
Clinton instead sent to 
Cornwallis for troops to 
aid in the defense of 
New York. Suddenly 
the Erench fleet sailed 
The Siege of Yorktown. ^^^^ ^^^ Virginia, and 

Washington with his army made forced marches to Yorktown. 

Before Clinton knew what was done, the French fleet and 
the American army held Cornwallis in a trap. Cornwallis 
now begged Clinton to come to his rescue with ships and men. 
The British had thrown up fortifications at Yorktown and 
Gloucester, on opposite sides of the York River. The French 
troops under Rochambeau, and the American troops under 
Washington, surrounded the British works, while the French 
fleet held the entrance to the bay. 

55. The Surrender of Cornwallis. — The disposition of the 
troops was completed by the end of September, and the siege 




THE WAR FOR INDEPENDENCE. 



177 



of Yorktown was begun. Every day there was an advance, 
and brilliant attacks were made upon the British works. The 
situation of Cornwallis was getting desperate. His ships were 
on fire; great numbers of his men were in hospital; Clinton 
had not arrived, though he had sent word he was coming. 
Cornwallis determined to leave his sick behind him, and re- 
move across the river to Gloucester. Then he meant to break 
through the small 
French force stationed 
behind Gloucester, in 
the hope of joining 
Clinton. 

He began his move- 
ment the night of Octo- 
ber 15; but when a 
portion of his troops 



had crossed, a storm 
arose which scattered 
his boats. It was no 
longer possible to hold 
Yorktown, and the 
19th of October, 1781, 
General Cornwallis 
surrendered his whole 
army to General Wash- 
ington. On that day 
Clinton left New York 

to join Cornwallis. A week later, when off the Virginia capes, 
he heard the news of the surrender. It was too late for him 
to be of any service, and he returned to New York. 

56. The Treaty of Peace. — When news of the surrender of 
Cornwallis reached England, Parliament was just reassem- 
bling. The king's friends tried hard to make Parliament vote to 
prosecute the war vigorously, but the opposing party increased 
in strength and resolution. They compelled the king to dis- 
miss his ministers and take the advice of those who favored 




Lord Cornwallis. Born 1738 ; died 1805. 



178 ESTABLISHMENT OF THE UNION. 

the independence of the United States. The king was will- 
ing to have peace with his colonies; he was ready to yield 
the points which were in dispute when the war broke out, but 
he was very loath to grant independence. 

The American commissioners who had been sent to Paris 
were John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, and John Jay. They 
declared that they would consider no treaty until independence 
was acknowledged. The king was obliged to yield. Then one 
question after another was raised. The question of boundary 
was one; the English wished to keep the Ohio Valley and part 
of Maine. The property of the Tories had been confiscated; 
England wished it restored. The right to fish off the Banks 
of Newfoundland and Nova Scotia was a valuable right; 
England tried to exclude New England fishermen. 

These and other questions caused delay. The delay was 
increased by the efforts of France and Spain to postpone 
the final settlement until they should get what they wanted 
from Great Britain. At last, however, the wisdom and 
patience of the American commissioners were rewarded, and 
the treaty of peace between England and the United States 
was signed in Paris, September 3, 1783. 

57. The Breaking up of the Army. — The English govern- 
ment had already withdrawn its troops from Savannah and 
Charleston in 1782. On the 25th of November, 1783, the 
British army evacuated New York. Washington and his 
officers, and G-eorge Clinton, governor of the State of New 
York, marched into the town with a few companies of sol- 
diers. General Washington had made a farewell address to 
his army at Newburgh, on the Hudson, where he had been in 
camp for nearly two years. Now he parted, with 

®°' ' deep feeling, from the officers who had been close to 

him through all the years of the war. Then he returned his 

commission to Congress, which was sitting at Annap- 

®^' ' olis, and went back, a private citizen, to his estate 
at Mt. Vernon, in Virginia. 

The army had been breaking up all through the summer, 



THE WAR FOR INDEPENDENCE. 179 

and now it was entirely disbanded. The officers and soldiers 
who had homes returned to them; but many had no homes. 
They wandered destitute for weeks and months about the 
country. Everywhere they found the people restless and 
uncertain of what was to come. 

QUESTIONS. 

How did the affairs in America affect poHtics in England ? What 
course did the king pursue to secure soldiers ? What special advantage 
did England have in attacking the colonies ? What was the first point 
of attack ? Narrate the events connected with the battle of Long Island. 
Tell the story of Nathan Hale. What followed the battle of Long Island ? 
Describe the operations in New Jersey. Tell how Washington encouraged 
the people. What was the British plan for the Northern campaign ? Nar- 
rate the capture of Ticonderoga ; the battle of Oriskany ; the battle of 
Bennington. What were Washington's movements at this time ? Nar- 
rate the events leading up to and including the battle of Saratoga. What 
effect did the defeat of Burgoyne have on the country ? What effect 
abroad ? What course did Louis XVI. pursue ? What resulted in Eng- 
land ? Where did the army go into winter quarters ? Wliat was the 
condition of the Confederation ? What was the Conway Cabal ? Describe 
the state of the army at Valley Forge. Describe the movement ending 
with the battle of Monmouth Court House. Narrate the events of the 
summer of 1778. What efforts did the British make to regain the South? 
What was the financial condition of the country ? Describe the operations 
on the frontier. Narrate Wayne's exploit. Tell the story of John Paul 
Jones. What took place in the South in 1780 ? Tell the story of Arnold's 
treachery and Andre's execution. Narrate the events of Greene's move- 
ments in the South. Describe the strategy by which Cornwallis was shut 
up in Yorktown. Tell the event of the surrender of Cornwallis. Who 
were the American commissioners in Paris ? What was the state of 
things in England ? What questions were involved in the treaty ? When 
was the Treaty of Paris signed ? What events followed the treaty ? 

SEARCH QUESTIONS. 

Was General Lee a traitor ? Name successive military operations on 
Lake Champlain from Champlain down. What did the British do with 
themselves in Philadelphia ? Where did Congress sit when the British 
held Philadelphia ? What was the origin of the word " cabal " ? Describe 



180 ESTABLISHMENT OF THE UNION. 

the circumstances connected with the death of the Earl of Chatham. 
How did the word "Cornwallis" later come into popular use? What 
serious disturbance at Newburgh was quieted by the influence of Washing- 
ton? Who governed the Americans during the Revolution ? Who said 
"Howe has not taken Philadelphia, so much as Philadelphia has taken 
Howe," and why was it said ? 

SUGGESTIONS FOR LITERARY TREATMENT. 

Compositions : 

A comparison of Nathan Hale and Major Andr6. 

A detailed account of the Conway Cabal. 

The story of the capture of Stony Point. 

The story of Jane McCrea. 

Arnold before and Arnold after his treason. 

Debates : 

Besolved, That without the French alliance independence could not 
have been won. 

Besolved, That the cause of human freedom would have been advanced 
if the United States could have remained a part of the British empire. 

Besolved, That Americans should have secured their independence 
without recourse to war. 




Liberty Bell, Independence Hall. 



CHAPTER VI. 



THE CONFEDERATION AND THE CONSTTrUTION. 



Quo'rum. Such a number of per- 
sons at a meeting as is necessary, 
under its rules, to transact busi- 
ness. It is the first word of a 



Latin sentence, indicating this, 
and means "of whom." 
Ratify (rat'I-fy). To give assent 
to. 



58. The Debt created by the War. — The war was over, and 
there were thirteen States m America, independent of Great 
Britain. They were held together by the Articles of Confed- 
eration, and the common business of the oountry was in the 
hands of the United States in Congress assembled. The 
chief business was to provide for the payment of the debt 
incurred in the war. This debt, to say nothing of the inter- 
est on it, was about forty million dollars. 

Congress had been raising money in three ways. It had 
asked the separate States to provide money; it had borrowed 
from friendly European countries; and it had issued its own 
notes, or promises to pay. The States could raise money by 
taxation, but Congress had no power to tax. Yet the States, 
too, with the exception of New Hampshire, Massachusetts, 
and Virginia, issued their own paper money and relied 
mainly on that. The States gave Congress not more than 
one sixth of what was asked for. After the alliance with 
France, it was possible to borrow money abroad, and about 
eight millions was obtained in that way ; but when the interest 
was due, it was necessary to borrow more money to pay that. 

As for the paper money issued by Congress, the Conti- 
nental currency, it was like all other promises to pay, good 
only when the promisor has something to pay with; and, as 
we have seen, it fell very low in value as money. It took all 

181 



.182 



ESTABLISHMENT OF THE UNION. 




Continental Currency. 



the skill and most of the private wealth of Robert Morris/ 
the Superintendent of Finance and a noble patriot, to provide 
means for carrying on the war. The debt most pressing was 
about five million dollars due the army. Congress had been 
shamefully neglectful of this debt, and it had required all 

the influence of Wash- 
ington to keep the sol- 



diers from rising in their 
wrath and compelling 
Congress to pay them. 

59. The Public Lands. 
~ What had the Confed- 
eration with which to 
pay its debts? The most 
valuable property it had 
was the large area of un- 
occupied land. By the 
treaty of peace, Great Britain gave up to the United States 
the territory between the AUeghanies and the Mississippi. 
Now this territory was pretty well covered with claims which 
the separate colonies, now States, had set up over it; but the 
claims had been on paper, and any colonizing had been by 
person and not by the States; the boundaries of the several 
claims Were very indefinite. It was now proposed that the 
different States should give up to the Confederation their title 
to these Western lands; and this they did, although Georgia 
did not give up hers until as late as 1801. 

The Northwest Territory. — Congress used this great property 
in land to pay the debts of the Confederation. It gave lands 
to officers and soldiers in payment of their claims against the 

1 Morris was born in Liverpool, January 20, 1734, and came to this country, 
when a boy of thirteen, with his father. He was placed in the counting-house 
of Charles Willing, a wealthy Philadelphia merchant. He rose to a partner- 
ship, and when the Revolution cam&, threw his influence upon the patriot 
side at the jeopardy of his property. When the new government went into 
operation, he was offered the post of Secretary of the Treasury, but advised 
Washington to appoint Hamilton. He died May 8, 1806. 



CONFEDERATION AND CONSTITUTION. 183 

government. Many of these moved out to tlieir lands, and 
companies were formed for colonizing, especially in the Ohio 
Valley. But the holding of this Western country by the 
Confederation meant a great deal more than a means to pay 
debts. As before, a Continental army under Congress was a 
sign of national union, so now the fact that all the States in 
union held a vast territory in common was a sign that the 
people were forming a nation, and Congress was compelled to 
take some measures for governing the territory. 

By what is known as the Ordinance of 1787, Congress 
erected all the district northwest of the Ohio into one ter- 
ritory. It appointed a governor and council and judges. 
The people residing in the territory were to choose their own 
Assembly and make their own laws. The most important 
provision of the ordinance was that by which slavery was 
forever excluded from the Northwest Territory. 

60. The Trade with England. — While Congress was appar- 
ently powerless, each Stp.te had its regular government and 
courts of justice, and each had seaports. The trade with 
Europe, wiiich had been interrupted, was resumed. England 
treated the States very much as she had treated the colonies. 
She sent great quantities of goods over the sea, but required 
that all produce from America should be brought to her in 
one of two ways, — it must come either in a British ship or 
in a ship belonging to the State from which the goods'came. 
England also forbade the British colonies to trade directly 
with the United States. This was intended especially to gov- 
ern the West Indian trade. 

By these various regulations England tried to keep the com- 
merce of the United States in her own hands. The great 
influx of English goods carried off much of the coin left in 
the States, for English merchants would not take paper money. 
It broke down the feeble manufactories which had been set up 
when no goods could be had from England. It brought a 
great many merchants in the States into debt to English mer- 



184 ESTABLISHMENT OF .THE UNION. 

chants. These transactions were with the separate States. 
Congress had no power to regulate trade, and thus was un- 
able to come in between England and the States. 

61. The Claims of England and Spain. — Under the treaty of 
1783 Congress was to recommend the several States to restore 
the property taken from the loyalists. The States were still 
bitter against these men, and refused any such consideration. 
This threw the loyalists upon the British government for 
support. The States also made it difficult for English mer- 
chants to collect debts due before the war. England made 
this an excuse for refusing to abide by that article of the 
treaty which required her to abandon the Western posts. She 
still kept garrisons there and controlled the important fur 
trade which centered about them. 

Spain, again, claimed control of the Mississippi River and 
refused to give free navigation. There were no States on the 
banks, but there were active settlements in the western parts 
of Kentucky and Tennessee that found the river the natural 
highway, and they raised a loud protest when Congress seemed 
ready to grant the claim of Spain. They threatened to detach 
themselves from the United States altogether, and indeed the 
western counties of North Carolina undertook to set them- 
selves up into a State of their own called Franklin. The 
part of Virginia which afterward became Kentucky threatened 
a similar attempt. 

62. Internal Disorders. — The separate States tried to get 
away the European trade from one another. One State would 
bid for the trade by offering to receive goods at lower rates of 
duties. Then two States which were neighbors would make an 
agreement to secure for themselves trade which might other- 
wise go to another part of the country. Disorders arose within 
the separate States. When the courts decided against debtors, 

the creditors would call on the State authorities to 
17R6 

■ help them collect the debts. The people who owed 

money and had none to pay saw their goods and cattle taken 

from them. This enraged them so that they rose in riots 



CONFEDERATION AND CONSTITUTION. 185 

against the courts and sheriff. In Massachusetts, Daniel 
Shays, a captain in the Continental army, headed a body of 
men who for six months resisted the authority of the State. 

63. Failure of the Confederation. — The whole country seemed 
to be falling to pieces. Congress could with difficulty bring 
enough members together to form a quorum. Scarcely any 
one outside paid attention to what it did. Least of all was 
it respected by foreign governments. John Adams, who had 
been sent as minister to England, could hardly get a hearing 
there. It was impossible for the country to go on as it was. 
The States were separating from one another and from Con- 
gress. 

Yet all the while the people were busy. They were crossing 
the mountains into the Western country. The very attempt of 
the western counties of North Carolina to make a new State 
showed that the people insisted upon governing themselves.^ 
Just as the people before the war had met in convention, so 
now they resolved to hold a new one. Virginia spoke earnestly 
through its legislature, and a convention was called " to take 
into consideration the situation of the United States." 

64. The Constitutional Convention The convention met in 

Independence Hall, Philadelphia, May 14, 1787, and sat four 
months. The States sent their ablest men as delegates. 
Washington was chairman; Franklin and Morris were mem- 
bers; and there were two young men whom the convention 
was to make famous, — Alexander Hamilton of New York 
and James Madison of Virginia. All felt the need of giving 
greater authority to the Confederation, but the constitution 
they were to draw up was to be submitted to the several 
States, and must be agreed to by nine of the States before it 
could become the law of the land. The members knew how 
jealous the States were of Congress, and they had to use the 
greatest wisdom to draft a constitution which would be 
accepted. They had before them the written constitutions of 

1 The fullest treatment of the Western movement is to be found in the very 
readable volumes of Roosevelt's The Winning of the West. 



186 



ESTABLISHMENT OF^ THE UNION. 



the several States, and tliey drew many details from these; 
the Constitution of the United States was in the main the 
application to the whole country of the mode of government 
which had worked well in the several States. 

65. The Federalist. — The convention finally adopted the 

Constitution/ and reported its work to Congress, and 

^yihl^' Congress submitted it to the States. At once the 

Constitution began to be discussed. Everywhere, in 

State conventions, in assemblies, in town meetings, in country 




Interior of Independence Hall. 

1 Dr. John Fiske, in his work on The Critical Period of American History, 
which is a clear analysis of the six years 1783-1789, closes his sixth chapter 
with a reference to Franklin's successive efforts, beginning with the Albany 
Congress of 1734, to bring about a closer union. Franklin had signed the Dec- 
laration of Independence in the very room where the convention was sitting. 
" Eleven years more had passed, and he had been spared to see the noble aim 
of his life accomplished. There was still, no doubt, a chance of failure, but 
hope now reigned in the old man's breast. On the back of the President's 
quaint black armchair there was emblazoned a half-sun, brilliant with its 
gilded rays. As the meeting Avas breaking up, and Washington arose, Franklin 
pointed to the chair, and made it the text for prophecy. ' As I have been 
sitting here all these weeks,' said he, ' I have often wondered whether yonder 
sun is rising or setting. But now I know that it is a rising sun! ' " 



CONFEDERATION AND CONSTITUTION. 



187 



stores, by friends, in 
newspapers and letters, 
every article was de- 
bated. Hamilton, Mad- 
ison, and John Jay^ 
wrote a series of essays 
which went over all the 
questions with great 
tlioroughness. They 
showed the reasons for 
adopting the Constitu- 
tion and did much to 
convince people. These 
essays were published 
at the time in news- 
papers, and afterward 
were collected into a 
volume called The 
Federalist. 

66 
first 




Alexander Hamilton.^ 



The Adoption of the Constitution. — Delaware was the 
to ratify the Constitution, which it did unanimously. 



1 John Jay was of Huguenot descent, and was born in New York, Decem- 
ber 12, 1745. He graduated at King's College, now Columbia University, in 
1766. He was a member of the Continental Congress, and was very active in 
the affairs of his own State. He drafted the constitution adopted by New 
York, and was chief justice of the State. Washington appointed him the first 
chief justice of the United States. Daniel Webster said : " When the spotless 
ermine of the judicial robe fell on John Jay, it touched nothing less spotless 
than itself." He died May 17, 1829. See the volume on him iu American 
Statesman series, by George Pellew. 

2 Alexander Hamilton was born in the island of Nevis, West Indies, 
January 11, 1757. He was thrown on his own resources very early, and 
showed such remarkable ability that his friends sent him to America to be 
educated. He came into public notice at a meeting held when he was a student 
at Columbia, then King's College, when he made a fervid speech in favor of 
colonial rights. Early in 1776 he was given command of a company of artillery 
by the New York Convention. He did so well at Long Island and White 
Plains that he attracted Washington's attention, and was invited to join his 
staff. From this followed an intimate association. He studied finance during 
the Revolution, and after the war studied law, and was admitted to the bar. 

o 



188 ESTABLISHMENT OF JHE UNION. 

Pennsylvania followed, five days afterward, with a two-thirds 
vote in favor. The fight was hardest in Virginia and New 
York ; but these States accepted the Constitution ; in the lat- 
ter, Alexander Hamilton, more than any other man, influenced 
the members. As State after State came into line, the move- 
ment gathered strength, but North Carolina and Rhode Island 
did not ratify until after the new government was in opera- 
tion. 

The change from a confederation to a union was a great step 
forward. The Confederation had no way to compel the States 
to act as one body; it could ask for money to carry on the 
government, but it could lay no taxes for raising money. The 
Union was at once made strong by the first article of the 
Constitution, in which we may read: "Congress shall have 
power to lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts, and excises, 
to pay tlie debts and provide for the common defense and gen- 
eral welfare of the United States." 

Moreover, as amplifying this power, the Union alone could 
make treaties with other nations; maintain an army and 
navy; build forts; make rules for the admission of foreigners 
and foreign goods into the country; coin and issue money; 
adopt standards of weight and measure ; have supreme control 
over rivers and harbors, and govern directly the territory not 
occupied by States. 

QUESTIONS. 

What was the debt incurred in the war ? What three means did Con- 
gress have for paying it ? What was the trouble with the paper money ? 
What great financier gave his services ? What difficulties did the debt 
raise in the army ? Who owned the public lands ? What special mean- 
ing attached to the holding of the public lands by the whole country ? 
What was the ordinance of 1787 ? When trade was resumed with Eng- 
land, what followed ? What claim did England have on the United 
States ? What claim did Spain assert ? How did the separate States 
treat one another ? What was the Shays Rebellion ? What effect did all 
this have on European opinion ? What Western movement indicated a 
healthy condition ? When and where did the Constitutional Convention 
meet? What was the process by which the Constitution was framed, 



TOPICAL ANALYSIS. 189 

discussed, and acted on ? What is The Federalist? What was the main 
difference between the Confederation and the Union ? 

SEARCH QUESTIONS. 

Give an analysis of the Ordinance of 1787. Describe the attempt to 
form the State of Franklin. What was the Kentucky experiment of the 
same sort ? Name some of the powers possessed by the Union under the 
Constitution which the old Confederation did not have. What States 
have been formed out of the Northwest Territory ? 

SUGGESTIONS FOR LITERARY TREATMENT. 

Compositions : 

Continental money and what it would purchase during the Revolu- 
tion. 

An account of Shays's Rebellion, 

An imaginary letter from a soldier who had been with Washington all 
through the Revolutionary War, written from his home at the close of 
the war. 

Story of a boy who cared for the farm while his father was in the war. 

Washington's farewell to the army. 



CHAPTER VII. 

THE NEW UNION. 

67. The Beginning of the New Government While the con- 
vention was forming the Constitution, the Congress of the 
Confederation was in .session in New York. It continued 
to be the government of the country till the new government 
could go into operation. It fixed the seat of government tem- 
porarily in New York, and in that city the Congress of the 
United States met, March 4, 1789. It was a small body, con- 
sisting at first of twenty-two senators and fifty-nine repre- 
sentatives. 

Meanwhile the presidential electors met and voted for 
President. There could be no doubt wlio was the first man 
of the nation. George Washington was unanimously chosen 
President, ■ and on April 30 he took the oath of office, in 
Federal Hall on Wall Street, New York. "He was dressed," 
an eyewitness tells us, "in deep brown, with metal buttons 
with an eagle on them, white stockings, a bag (that is, a bag 
wig), and sword." John Adams was chosen Vice President, 
and took his place as president of the Senate. 

68. The Cabinet. — Under the old Confederation there had 
been three executive departments, controlled by Congress: 
Foreign Affairs, War, and Finance. In the new Union these 
departments were made a part of the executive department, 
and the President appointed Thomas Jefferson at the head of 
the first, with the title of Secretary of State; he appointed 
Henry Knox, who was a general in the army. Secretary of 
War, and Alexander Hamilton Secretary of the Treasury. 
Edmund Randolph also Avas appointed to be Attorney 
Generalo 

190 



THE NEW UNION. 191 

This was the beginning of what we now know as the Cabi- 
net, that is, the President's council; and it is a good illustra- 
tion of how political organization grows and is not made. 
The Constitution is silent about a Cabinet, and yet the, Presi- 
dent's Cabinet to-day, with its nine members, is a very 
important part of the administration. 

Jefferson and Hamilton. — Two of tlie members of Washing- 
ton's Cabinet were men who had a marked influence on history. 
Thomas Jefferson, author of the Declaration of Independence, 
was a man of scholarly tastes and attainments. It was he 
who afterward organized the University of Virginia. He had 
been minister to France, and there had seen the beginning 
of the French Revolution. He had a deep faith in the final 
judgment of the whole people, and combined in an extraor- 
dinary degree tlie qualities of an idealist and of a man of 
practical, plain sense. 

Alexander Hamilton was thirteen years younger than Jef- 
ferson. He v/as but twenty-two years old when he wrote a 
letter to the superintendent of finance which showed that he 
had already clear and strong opinions as to the proper mode 
of managing the finances of the government. Hamilton was 
opposed to Jefferson in many of his theories. He distrusted 
the people, and thought government should be in the hands 
of a few able and influential men.^ 

69. The Supreme Court. — In addition to the legislative de- 
partment, consisting of Congress, and of the executive depart- 
ment, consisting of the President, there was a third department 
of government organized, the judiciary. The Constitution had 
provided for a Supreme Court. Washington appointed John 
Jay Chief Justice, and Congress proceeded to extend the S3^stem 
of courts by which cases could first be tried in inferior courts, 
and only the most important questions carried up to the Supreme 
Court. By far the greatest power held by the Supreme Court 
is that of passing upon the constitutionality of acts of Congress 

1 As Secretary of the Treasury he oro^anized the work so well that the 
office is to-day administered on the lines he laid down. 



192 



ESTABLISHMENT (W THE UNION. 



or of the States. The judges hold their office during good 
behavior; they cannot be removed except by the long and slow- 
process of impeachment, a mode of trial which requires the 
final consent of a majority of the House of Kepresentatives to 

prosecute and of two 
thirds of the Senate to 
convict. 

It is largely because 
of this secure position 
of the judges, that the 
court has been com- 
posed of very eminent 
men. They have in- 
terpreted the law of 
the Constitution, and 
this again has had its 
effect in making the 
amendment of the Con- 
stitution infrequent. 
It is a very difficult 
matter to change the 
Constitution. It re- 
quires the assent of 
three fourths of the 
States. Wisely, the Constitution was originally so drawn that 
its articles were broad and comprehensive. The decisions of 
the Supreme Court from time to time have determined the 
exact application of the articles.^ 

1 Probably no single jurist did so much to determine the construction of the 
Constitution by decisions on the bench as John Marshall of Virginia. He was 
born in Fauquier County, September 24, 1755. He began the study of law 
when he was eighteen, but his studies were interrupted by the war. He 
served as captain at Brandywine and Germantown and was in camp at Valley 
Forge, where he made himself well known by the sound sense and good judg- 
ment with which he settled disputes between his brother officers; and both 
Washington and Hamilton came to esteem him highly. As soon as the war 
was over he took up the practice of the law, and rose rapidly to great dis- 
tinction. It was he and Madison who were most influential in securing the 




Jolin Marshall. 



THE NEW UNION. 193 

70. The Bill of Rights. — The only large body of amendments 
to the Constitution was made immediately after Congress first 
met. When the different State conventions discussed the Con- 
stitution, many fears were expressed lest it should make the 
general government too strong. Some thought the people in 
danger of losing their liberties, just as they had been in dan- 
ger when under the king. Congress, therefore, as soon as it 
got to work, submitted twelve amendinents to the Constitution, 
drawn up by James Madison. Ten of these were ratified by 
the States, and are known as the Bill of Rights. They were 
intended to guard the freedom of the people against the perils 
which had beset them just before the war for independence 
(see Appendix, p. 10). 

71. The Payment of the Debt. — The most pressing business 
before Congress, however, was to get money to pay the debt 
of the Confederation. Hamilton at once saw in the payment 
of the debt an opportunity to give strength to the United 
States in the eyes of foreign nations. He saw, also, that it 
gave an opportunity to bind the States together in a more 
perfect union. He proposed that the debt which the Con- 
federation owed to foreigners should be paid in full by the 
Union; that the Continental currency, which had become 
almost w^orthless, should be received by the government, and 
good money given in exchange. 

The first proposition was adopted at once, unanimously; 
the second was adopted after much debate. Hamilton pro- 
posed also that the debts incurred by the several States in be- 
half of the common welfare should be assumed by the Union. 
This proposition caused great debate; it was an important 
move, for if the Union were to pay the State debts, it w^ould 
make friends at once of all those whom the States owed. 

Federalists and Anti-Federalists. — The men led by Hamilton, 
who desired a strong central government, were named Fed- 
adoption of the Federal Constitution in Virginia. He became Chief Justice of 
the United States in 1800, and died July 6, 1835. The Supreme Court first sat 
at Washington, Feb. 4, 1801, and the centennial was very generally observed. 



194 ESTABLISHMENT O^ THE UNION. 

eralists ; those opposed to tliem, at first for want of a better 
name^ were called Anti-Federalists. These were more in num- 
ber, but they were broken up into groups that looked after 
the interest of this or that State. Upon the question of the 
assumption of the State debts they were united, and at first 
they defeated Hamilton's proposition. Hamilton was bent 
on carrying his point, and took advantage of a dispute about 
the location of the capital of the country. He persuaded^two 
Virginia congressmen to change their votes and support his 
measure. In return he x^romised to use his influence to have 
the capital upon the banks of the Potomac Kiver, instead of 
at some Northern point. This change of votes gave him the 
requisite majority. 

72. The United States Bank and National Revenue. — Ham- 
ilton now proposed a bank, of which the government should 
be a principal owner, and by means of which it could borrow 
money. There were then but three banks in the country. 
One was in Philadelphia, one in New York, and one in Bos- 
ton. They were all State institutions. In establish- 

1791 

■ ing a bank under charter from the United States, 

Hamilton again met opposition from the Anti-Federalists; 
but he carried his point. 

The next step was to raise a revenue. This was done in two 
ways, — by imposing duties on goods imported into the country, 
and by laying a tax upon the manufacture of spirituous liquors. 
By the first, the United States declared its right to tax for- 
eigners; by the second, to tax its own citizens. A long step 
forward had been taken. The people in the colonies had 
resisted the English government when it had undertaken to 
tax them. The people of the States, though there was much 
grumbling, acknowledged the right of the United States to 
tax them. This was a government which they had themselves 
established. 

73. The First New State Oie step more was to be taken. 

The thirteen colonies had become thirteen States, and had now 
all accej^ted the Constitution of the United States. Each had 



TBE NE\y UNION. 195 

its own boundaries and its own government. But the bound- 
aries of the United States extended beyond the boundaries of 
the States. Out of this territory, stretching to the Mississippi, 
new States were to be formed. Yet the first new State was 
formed out of territory which was within the boundaries of 
the old States. It was formed by the United States in the 
exercise of the power which the nation had to determine 
membership in the Union. The territory now occupied by 
Vermont was claimed in part by New York, in part by New 
Hampshire. The people living there had fought bravely in 
the war, under the name of the Green Mountain Boys. 
They had set up an independent government during 
the war, and now desired to enter the Union. They settled 
their disputes with the neighboring States, and Vermont was 
admitted as the fourteenth State. ^ 

1 In 1777 Vermont declared itself an independent State, and for fourteen 
years held a singular position. It was in harmony with the rest of the country 
in opposing Great Britain, but it was quite as determined against any claim 
upon its territory which might be set up by New York or New Hampshire. 
The British authorities made an attempt to play upon this strong feeling by 
offering to secure its position as an independent province if it would keep 
its allegiance to the crown ; and the bargaining was not discontinued when 
the war closed. The State contributed very largely to the settlement of 
Western States, especially Michigan. It has in recent years received itself 
many newcomers from Canada. The State has sent a number of eminent 
men to Congress, and the length of service of two in particular has been no- 
ticeable. Senator George F. Edmunds represented the State continuously 
from 1866 to 1891, when he retired from public life. Justin Smith Morrill, 
who was born April 14, 1810, was elected to the House of Representatives 
and served steadily from December 3, 1855, to March 3, 1867, when he became 
Senator, and served continuously till his death, December 28, 1898. Vermont 
has been largely an agricultural and a grazing country, special attention being 
given to dairy products. The name is from the French Vet'ts Monts, signify- 
ing Green Mountains. A capital storybook about revolutionary days is The 
Green Mountain Boys. Vermont, in the American Commonwealths series, is 
a good, compact accouut of the State. 



196 ESTABLISHMENT Of THE UNION. 



QUESTIONS. 

How long did the old Confederation last ? What was the seat of gov- 
ernment ? When and where was Washington inaugurated ? Who were 
the first members of the Cabinet ? Give some account of Jefferson ; of 
Hamilton. Into what three main divisions was the government divided ? 
What is the duty of the Supreme Court ? What was the Bill of Rights ? 
What was the first business of importance before Congress ? What pro- 
posals did the Secretary of the Treasury make ? What were the two 
political parties ? How did the site of the capital come to be chosen ? 
What banks were there in the country, and why did Hamilton propose a 
new one ? How was revenue raised ? What was the significance of the 
taxes now laid ? What new State was added to the Union ? What was 
its origin ? 

SEARCH QUESTIONS. 

How are the members of the Cabinet appointed and confirmed ? What 
determines the number of the representatives at any one time ? Is there 
any limit to the age at which a senator or representative may be chosen ? 
Is any American citizen eligible for the Presidency ? Who are citizens of 
the United States ? Explain the process of naturalization. 

SUGGESTIONS FOR LITERARY TREATMENT. 

Compositions : 

An account of Hamilton's XJ^bHc speech when a student at King's 
College. 

The Green Mountain Boys. 

An account of Washington's inauguration. 

Debates : 

Besolvedy That Hamilton was justified in the means he took to secure 
the assumption of the State debts. 

Mesolved^ That a republic is always the best government. 



CHAPTER VIII. 



THE PEOrLE OF *THE UNITED STATES. 



Gin (fin). The word is a short 
form of " engine.'" 

Presbyte'rian. Pres'by-ter is a 
Greek word, meaning "elder.'' 
The Presbyterians are so called 
because they hold that the Church 
should be governed by elders 
chosen by the churches, and not, 



as in the Episcopal Church, by 
bishops. "Episcopal" is from 
another Greek word, Epis'-ko- 
pos, meaning "overseer," or 
" bishop." 

Watauga (wa-ta'ga). 

Sevier (se-ver'). 



74. The first census of the United States was taken in 1790, 
and showed a population of a little less than four millons.^ 
The most populous State was Virginia. After that came 
Pennsylvania, then North Carolina, Massachusetts, New 
York, Maryland, South Carolina, and Connecticut. The four 
millions, of whom a little more than one fifth were slaves, 
occupied a belt of country which lay chiefly between the 
Alleghanies and the sea. The most thickly settled parts 
were along river courses and about commodious harbors. So 
close to the seacoast did most of the people live, that the 
center of population was twenty-three miles east of Baltimore. 
In all this Atlantic territory there were but five towns which 
had a population of more than ten thousand. They were 
Philadelphia, New York, Boston, Charleston, and Baltimore. 

75. The Chief Industries. — By far the greatest number of 
people dwelt on their farms, and lived by what they raised 
from the soil. They had no labor-saving machines, but on the 
banks of streams they had mills for grinding corn or sawing 
lumber. The farmer at the North plowed his field with a horse 
or ox plow, dropped his seed by hand, and used the hoe and 

1 Ihe census of 1890 showed a population of over sixty-two millions, 
p 197 



198 ESTABLISHMENT OF* THE UNION. 

rake. When harvest time came, he cut his grass with- a 
scythe, reaped his grain with a sickle, and threshed it with a 
flail. Sometimes, if he had a large crop, he used his horses 
to tread out the grain. 

The planter at the South raised tobacco in a field until he 
had drawn all the life out of the soil. Then he left the 
ruined land and planted another "field. He raised rice in the 
marsh land. He found that cotton would grow well, but to 
get it ready for spinning was slow work. The Northern 
farmer also planted cotton; but he found it would not grow 
well, and so he gave up trying to raise it. 



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Western Movement of Center of Population.^ 

76. The Cotton Gin. — The cotton plant is a native of India. 
It has pods, which open when ripe and show a soft, downy 
substance containing seeds. The woolly fiber is separated 
from the seeds, and then is ready to be cleaned and carded 
for spinning and weaving. But the work of separating the 
fiber by hand is so slow that a laborer can prepare only a 
single pound a day. While, therefore, the planter was ship- 
ping large cargoes of tobacco and rice, he sent but little 
cotton. In 1792 only about a hundred and forty thousand 
pounds of cotton were exported from the entire South. 

1 If you imagine the surface of the United States a flat board balanced on 
a pole, and the people distributed over it where they live, the center of gravity 
would correspond with the points marked. 



THE PEOPLE OF THE UNITED STATES. 



199 



Three years later, over six million pounds were exported. 
This sudden increase was due to the ingenuity of one man, 
Eli Whitney,^ who invented the cotton gin. It was not a very 
complicated machine, 
and it was adopted at 
once wherever cotton 
was raised. The plant- 
ers now planted more 
fields and imported more 
slaves. It was not long 
before cotton became 
the chief crop of the 
South. It was easily 
planted and picked by 
the slaves. The cotton 
gin got it ready to be 
made into bales, and 
then it was sent out of 
the country. 

77. The Manufacture 
of Cotton. — The people 
of India have always 
made cloth out of the 
cotton which they raise, 
of India, English merchants brought the cotton to England 

1 Whitney was born in Westboro, Massachusetts, December 8, 1765. During 
the war for independence he was engaged in making nails, which in those 
days were wrought singly by hand. He worked his way through Yale Col- 
lege, graduating in 1792, and then went to Georgia to teach. The widow of 
General Greene gave him a home, and he was so clever in contrivances in her 
house, that when some friends were complaining that there was no profit in 
raising the best cotton, owing to the great difficulty of separating the fiber 
from the seed, she advised them to apply to Whitney. He had never seen any 
cotton seed or raw cotton and had to make the tools and to draw the wire 
with which he experimented, but after several months' labor he produced the 
gin. Afterward he returned to the North and engaged in the manufacture of 
firearms near New Haven. His buildings became the models upon which the 
National armories were afterward built. He died at New Haven, January 8, 
1825. 




Eli Whitney. 
When England began to get control 



200 ESTABLISHMENT OF .THE UNION. 

and set Englishmen at work spinning and weaving it. At first 
they worked by hand, as the people of India did; but soon 
they invented machines and built factories. The application 
of steam to machinery increased enormously the manufactur- 
ing interest in England. 

In the Southern States of the Union the slaves were not 
trained to work which required skill. Thus, while a little 
cotton was spun or woven by hand for coarser clothes used 
on the plantations, the greater part was sent to England to 
be made up into cloth. Then English merchants sold this 
cloth in the United States. In the Northern States almost 
everybody worked with his liands. The men on the farms 
made and mended tools and built buildings. The women 
spun and wove chiefly flax and wool. 

So it came about that when I^ew England ships sailed to 
Southern ports, they brought some of the cotton back to the 
North. The English manufacturers wished to retain the busi- 
ness in their own hands. But it was not long before Ameri- 
cans were making machinery like that in use in England. 
The first machinery capable of spinning cotton yarn, equal to 
that made in England, was set up by Samuel Slater, at Paw- 
tucket, Rhode Island, in 1790. 

78. Other Manufacturing. — Besides the crops which the 
farms and plantations yielded, there were forests, which gave 
wood for building and for fuel. Beneath the ground was a 
rich store of iron, lead, coal, and otlier minerals. Very little 
was yet known of all this hidden wealth, and there were very 
few contrivances for turning the ore into manufactured arti- 
cles. The laws of Great Britain had required the people of 
the colonies to send their iron ore to England. The war put 
an end to this, and people set up iron works in the districts 
in which the ore was found. These works began to multiply, 
but the best articles still came from England. 

79. Education and Religion. — The people were still poor, but 
they began to plan for schools for their children, and even for 
new colleges. In 1789 Massachusetts made attendance upon 



THE PEOPLE OF THE UNITED STATES. 201 

school compulsory, and before the end of the century several 
academies had been founded in that and other New England 
States, In 1795, Governor Clinton, of New York, recom- 
mended the legislature to establish common schools through- 
out the State. It was many years, however, before there was 
anything like a public-school system throughout the country. 
The care of the public schools is one of the great duties of 
the separate States. The general government has little to do 
in this respect. 

There was very little paper made in the country, and books 
were dear. Schoolbooks were few in number; but a young 
schoolmaster, Noah Webster, had just made a speller, 
and was at work upon a dictionary. There were only 
three or four public libraries in the entire country, and but 
forty-three newspapers, in 1783. 

There were churches in all the older communities. Before 
the war for independence some of these had been partly sup- 
ported by the government. But when the State governments 
were formed, and when the Federal Constitution was adopted, 
taxes for the support of ministers were abolished in most of 
the States. It was provided in the Constitution that "no re- 
ligious tests 'should ever be required as a qualification for any 
office or public trust under the United States." The first 
amendment to the Constitution also had the words : " Congress 
shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or 
prohibiting the free exercise thereof."^ 

The churches were supported by the free-will offerings of 
the people who attended them. But the people believed so 
firmly that religion and education are necessary to freedom, 
that they laid no taxes upon property devoted to religious and 
charitable purposes, nor upon property used for schools and 
colleges. This separation of the churches from the State was 
one of the greatest points of difference between the New 

1 The State of Virginia was the first to abolish religious tests. Madison 
was most influential in bringing this about, as also in extending the principle 
to the Federal Constitution. 



202 ESTABLISHMENT OF*THE UNION. 

World and the Old. No sooner was the new nation fairly 
established, than religious societies began to grow, as plants 
grow to which are given free air, sunshine, shower, and favor- 
able soil. 

80. The Western Movement. — The people of the United 
States living in the old thirteen States were largely of English 
origin, and they were influenced by English laws and manners 
and customs. But they had been practiced in governing them- 
selves;, they had turned colonies into States, and now it was 
to be seen how they would proceed to make new States in the 
great Western world beyond the mountains which had come 
into their possession. 

There were three main lines of movement to the West: one 
followed the valley of the Mohawk to the Great Lakes; that 
was the road taken by people in the New England States and 
New York. A second followed the river courses of Pennsyl- 
vania, passed through gaps in the Alleghanies, and came upon 
the eastern branches of the Ohio River, The third crossed 
the Blue Ridge Mountains and struck the Cumberland, Ten- 
nessee, and other rivers flowing into the Ohio, and thence to 
the great Mississippi. The first of these routes was the last 
to be developed, because Great Britain retained control of the 
Great Lakes till 1795. 

The Scotch-Irish and Other Frontiersmen. — In order to trace 
the lines by which the first States were formed out of the 
Western country, we need to go back to a date before the war 
for independence. At first those who crossed the mountains 
were traders, hunters, and trappers; but as the lands to the 
east of the mountains were taken up, families would move 
boldly into the vacant lands beyond. The people who thus 
pushed the frontier westward were mainly those who had 
already been accustomed to live remote from cities and towns. 
They were a hardy, self-reliant, backwoods people. 

A very important race elemenlTwas that of the Scotch-Irish, 
as they were called, descendants of the Presbyterians of the 
north of Ireland and south of Scotland, whose religious belief 



THE PEOPLE OF THE UNITED STATES. 203 

had made them good fighters and sturdy, independent men. 
They cleared the forest with the ax and protected themselves 
against wild beasts and savage Indians with the rifle. A log 
hut would be built by a family and a clearing made. Thus 
on the edge of the wilderness a new home would be formed. 
A group of families would build a stockade fort, and here they 
would meet for mutual safety when there was an Indian war. 

As these people pushed the frontier westward and moved 
farther away from the Eastern settlements, they came more 
into the midst of the Indians, and in 1763 the English govern- 
ment even went so far as to forbid the settlement of lands 
west of the sources of the rivers that flowed into the Atlantic. 
The policy of England was to keep settlers near the Atlantic 
coast, where English goods would be sold to them; and to 
reserve the regions beyond the mountains for the fur trade. 

But the backwoodsmen paid little heed to such orders, and 
in 1768, by the treaty of Fort Stanwix, the Six Nations gave 
up to the English all the title they might possess to lands 
south of a line running west from Fort Stanwix to the Alle- 
gheny, and along the Ohio, and as far south as the Tennessee. 
This treaty gave an impulse to the westward movement. The 
people occupying the territory, except some lawless adven- 
turers, believed in law and order, and when they found them- 
selves widely separated from the State in which they had 
lived, they formed associations and agreed to abide by the 
laws they should make. 

81. The Beginning of Kentucky. — The hunters who had first 
penetrated the wilderness often served as guides to parties 
moving over the mountains. One of these early pioneers was 
Daniel Boone, of North Carolina. He went on long hunting 
excursions, and was so in love with the banks of the Ken- 
tucky River that shortly after the treaty he moved his family 
to the new land and persuaded his neighbors to follow. He 
made a settlement, which took the name of Boonesborough.^ 

1 He was captured once by the Indians, when on a raid against them, and 
learning that they were to attack Boonesborough, he made his escape. " On 



20-4 



ESTABLISHMENT OF. THE UNION. 



Others followed from Virginia and North Carolina. The 
country was that claimed by Virginia, and upon a petition 
from many of the inhabitants Virginia erected it into a county, 
with the boundaries of the present State of Kentucky. In 

1792 the county was 
made a State, the first 
to be admitted into the 
Union from the coun- 
try beyond the Alle- 
ghanies.^ 

82. The Southwestern 
Territory. — At the same 
time that Boone went 
to Kentucky, a com- 
pany of settlers pushed 
down the valley of the 
Watauga River. They 
found themselves in a 
country claimed by 
North Carolina, and 
their settlement was re- 
enforced soon by a party 
headed by John Rob- 
ertson, which crossed 
A little later came John 
Sevier, a frontier trader with the Indians, and these two men, 

the 16th of June," he says, " before sunrise, I departed in the most secret 
manner, and arrived at Boonesborough on the 20th, after a journey of one 
hundred and sixty miles, during which I had but one meal." 

1 Kentucky appears to be an Indian term for "hunting ground." In recent 
days a considerable portion, with Lexington for its center, has been spoken of 
as the "blue-grass region," from the peculiar tint of its rich herbage. Our 
fathers often spoke of it as the "dark and bloody ground," because of the 
savage warfare that went on there in the early days of the State. After the 
War of 1812, the commercial growth of the State was very rapid ; it became 
the great source of supplies for the country lying to the west and northwest. 
Shaler's Kentucky, in the Ame7i.can Commonwealths series, pays much atten- 
tion to the natural resources of the State and the character of its population. 




Daniel Boone. 



the mountains from North Carolina. 



THE PEOPLE OF THE UNITED STATES. 205 

Robertson and Sevier, became the leaders of the community. 
Under their direction, in 1772, the people formed themselves 
iiito the Watauga Association and elected what was in effect a 
court, with the laws of Virginia for the standard. . 

For six years thus these American-born people governed 
themselves. Then North Carolina formed Washington County 
out of all the country included in the present State of Tennes- 
see, and the Watauga Association came to an end 5 but there 
was no break in the reign of law. After the States had ceded 
their Western land to the general government, Congress erected 
this portion into the Southwestern Territory and appointed a 
governor. 

83. Organization of Tennessee. — • The people who had their 
homes in this new country were used to governing them- 
selves. They were uneasy until they could have a State on 
an equality with all the other States. So, upon the call of 
the governor of the territory, fifty-five delegates from tlie 
eleven counties met at Knoxville. They were each to be 
allowed two dollars and a half a da}^ for their services. 
They discovered that no i:)rovision had been made for a sec- 
retary, doorkeeper, and printer. So the convention passed 
the following preamble and resolution : " Whereas economy 
is an amiable trait in any government, and, in fixing the 
salaries of the officers thereof, the resources and situation 
of the country should be attended to : therefore one dollar and 
a half per diem is enough for us, and no more will a man of 
us take ; and the rest shall go to the payment of the secretary, 
printer, doorkeeper, and other officers." The delegates were 

rude farmers and backwoodsmen, but they were also 

1796 
men who loved law and true liberty. Thus the great 

State of Tennessee was born, not with pomp and parade, but 

with the real dignity which belongs to people who respect one 

another.^ 

1 Tennessee is, in the Indian tonojne, "the river of the great bend." See, 
for a detailed narrative of the formation and development of the State, 
Phelan's History of Tennessee. 



206 ESTABLISHMENT OF, THE UNION. 

84. Pioneer Life These Western pioneers carried with 

them laws, government, and courts; but life was very different 
with them from what it was in the older settlements. When 
they crossed the mountains, the men and boys and strong 
women went afoot; the children and household goods were 
carried on pack horses, for there were as yet no roads for 
wagons. Though the "wilderness road" opened by Boone 
was at first the route followed, very soon the great body of 
emigrants went to the Monongahela and there took boats and 
floated down the Ohio to Youngstown, and thence journeyed 
inland. 

The cabins of the poorer were made of unhewn logs and 
held but a single room; and in the river bank settlements 
were often constructed of the planks which had formed the 
boats in which they had floated down the Ohio. The better 
cabins had their logs hewn; besides the large common room 
in which they gathered for meals, there was a small bedroom 
and a kitchen ; in the unfinished loft above, reached by ladder, 
the boys of the family slept. The beds were covered with 
bear skins and the hides of deer thc}^ had shot. Their tables 
and stools were often nothing but slabs of wood set on legs. 

Here in the wilderness, the pioneers had to depend on them- 
selves. The men and boys made a clearing on the edge of the 
forest and cultivated the land. They had to bring the plows 
from the older settlements, but some of the simpler imxplements 
they made themselves. They raised hogs and sheep, and 
hunted game. A hand mill and a hominy block were in every 
cabin. The women spun the flax that was raised, and wove 
linsey-wolsey cloth from flax and wool; the hides of deer 
were tanned and used for leggings and boots. What they 
needed and could not supply themselves was brought from 
some distant town once a year by trains of pack horses, which 
carried in exchange the skins they had tanned; or goods came 
in the boats that floated down the river. 

The social life of the early English settlers on the coast was 
repeated here in the backwoods, but in a more hearty and 



THE PEOPLE OF THE UNITED STATES. 207 

boisterous way. They had their house raisings and house 
warmings, quiltings and corn huskings; and these meetings 
were occasions for athletic sports, and trials of strength of 
ail kinds among the young men. There was often a very rough 
side to their games, for the community was made up of men 
who lived in the open air and fought wild beasts and Indians. 

There were few schools, and only the simplest things were 
taught. Meeting houses also were rare, but the people were a 
religious people and read their Bibles with great earnestness. 
The preachers who visited them went from settlement to set- 
tlement by turn, and their coming was a. great event. 

One result of this common life of the pioneers was seen in 
the social equality of the people. Where all worked and 
helped each other, it was not possible to keep up distinction 
of rank; whereas, in the seaboard settlements, there still sur- 
vived signs of the earlier days when the distinctions of society 
in Europe had passed over into the colonies. 

QUESTIONS. 

What was the population of the United States in 1790 ? What was it 
a hundred years later ? What was the order in population of the eight 
most populous ? Which were the largest towns ? What was the chief 
occupation of the people ? What primitive modes of cultivation were 
used ? Describe the raising of cotton, and state what gave a great 
impulse to its cultivation. What effect did the invention of the cotton 
gin have on Southern life ? Describe the series of steps by which the 
South came to raise cotton and the North to manufacture cotton cloth. 
What other manufactures were there ? When did the school system 
begin to come into use ? Who was Noah Webster ? What did tiie Con- 
stitution have to do with religious societies ? What has been the effect of 
voluntary support of churches ? Name the three main lines of movement 
to the West. Mention one of the race elements in the Western move- 
ment. What were some of its characteristics ? What influence did the 
Indians have on the early Western settlements ? Narrate the beginning 
of Kentucky. How was the Southwestern Territory formed, and who 
were prominent men in it ? Narrate the incident connected with the 
organization of the State of Tennessee. How did the early pioneers live ? 
How were they clothed and fed ? What was the social life of the settlers, 
and to what did it lead ? 



208 ESTABLISHMENT OK THE UNION. 

SEARCH QUESTIONS. 

How is the census taken ? When was steam applied to machinery in 
England, and by whom ? Name the chief libraries in the country in 1783. 
What led to the planting of the Scotch in Ireland ? Were there Presby- 
terians in New England, and if so, where ? 

SUGGESTIONS FOR LITERARY TREATMENT. 

Compositions : 

The tracing of a piece of cotton cloth from the first planting of the 



An account of a newspaper of the last century. 

A comparison of a Western pioneer with a colonist who came over in 
the Mayflower. 

Debate : 

Besolved, That it is better for government that members of the legis- 
lature should serve without pay. 



CHAPTER IX. 



THE UNITED STATES AND EUROPE. 



Bastile (bas-tel'). 
Genet (zhe-na'). 

Neutral. In time of war, belong- 
ing to neither party to the war. 
Wabash (wa'bash). 



Maneuver (ma-noo'ver). The 
French word thus made English is 
manoeuvre. An adroit movement. 

Alien (al'yen). Belonging to an- 
other country. 



85. America and the Old World. — The New AVorld was 
still a part of the Old. It was indeed no longer a politi- 
cal part of it; the people living on the western shore of the 
Atlantic had declared and won their independence as a nation, 
but they were still very dependent on Europe. Many lived 
by the commerce which they carried on with European ports. 
All were deeply interested in what was going on in the Old 
World. 

On the other hand, the United States was an object of 
great interest to« Europe. The alliance with France brought 
Frenchmen to America, and increased the communication 
between the two countries. The French officers and soldiers 
who bad helped the new nation to acquire its independence 
returned home, and everywhere spread accounts of the repub- 
lic. The Federal Constitution and the constitutions of the 
States were translated into French. A great number of 
books, pamphlets, and papers about America were scattered 
through the country.^ 

The French Revolution and American Parties. — It is not 
strange that when a revolution in France broke forth, there 

1 See, for a fall treatment of this interesting subject, Lewis Rosenthal's 
America and France : the Influence of the United States on France in the 
XVIIIth Centurtj. 

209 



210 ESTABLISHMENT OS THE UNION. 

should have been a strong sympathy between France and the 

United States. The French Republic was formed shortly 

after the establishment of the Union. There was an 
17RQ 

enthusiasm among the French people for America. 

There was an eagerness in America for the success of the 
French people. Many of the officers who had been in Amer- 
ica took part in the French Eevolution. Lafayette was Vice 
President of the National Assembly; and when the people 
destroyed the Bastile, the old prison house of Paris, he sent 
its key to Washington. It was a sign that France, too, was 
free. 

Clubs sprang up all over the United States in imitation 
of French republican clubs. French fashions of speech and 
dress were imitated. The American newspapers printed every- 
thing that could be learned about the progress of the French 
Eevolution. Celebrations of victories by the French people 
were held, at which speeches were made by Americans who 
were in sympathy with France. The Federalist party, headed 
by Hamilton, looked with distrust on the Revolution in France; 
the Anti-Federalist, or Republican party, as it now began to 
be called, headed by Jefferson, was enthusiastic in its support 
of the revolutionary party; and thus these two American par- 
ties divided on European politics. 

86. The War between France and England. — But it soon 
ceased to be a question of political sentiment. Early in 1793 
the French Republic declared war against England, and it 
became necessary for the United States to take some action. 
By the treaty she had made with France when engaged in the 
war for independence, the United States was to defend the 
French West Indies against Great Britain. Jefferson main- 
tained that this treaty was still binding; Hamilton, that the 
change of government in France had annulled the treaty; but 
both agreed that it was all important for the United States to 
keep out of this European war. Washington accordingly 
issued a proclamation of neutrality. 

It was an important act, the first in a series of acts by which 



THE UNITED STATES AND EUROPE. 211 

the United States has kept free from entanglement with Euro- 
pean affairs. But this was not what France wanted. That 
country wanted to draw the American people into the war, and 
sent out an agent, named Genet, wlio began issuing commis- 
sions to privateers and told them to bring their prizes into 
ports of the United States. The French consuls in those 
ports were to act as judges. Genet finding himself at every 
step opposed by the United States government, undertook to 
ignore its authority and appealed to the people; but Wash- 
ington compelled France to recall her imprudent agent. 

87. Jay's Treaty. — The rash performance of Genet served 
to cool the finthusiasm for France and to strengthen the hands 
of the English party, but England unfortunately followed a 
course which incensed the Americans and almost brought on 
a renewal of war. She claimed the right to lay hold of any 
provision for the enemy which she might find in a neutral 
vessel; to seize the produce of French colonies wherever found; 
and to board any vessel, make search for seamen of British 
birth, and carry them off for her own service. 

The humiliation of having vessels searched, and the in- 
justice often done by carrying off American seamen on the plea 
that they were British, led Congress into taking steps of retali- 
ation. Non-intercourse with England was proposed, and the 
country was hurrying into war when Washington made a final 
attempt to bring about a better understanding between the 
two countries. He appointed Chief Justice John Jay to be 
Envoy Extraordinary ^ to England. Jay was instructed to form 
a treaty, in which the points in dispute between the 
two countries should be settled. He carried out his 
instructions, and returned to the United States, where the 
treaty was ratified by the Senate. 

It was not an entirely satisfactory treaty. It provided for 
the removal of the English garrisons which still held the posts 
on the lakes; it made rules for the regulation of the com- 

1 The title given to an ambassador sent by one nation to another on a 
special mission. 



212 ESTABLISHMENT OF '^HE UNION. 

merce of the two countries ; but it left to England the right 
to search American vessels for British seamen, and it put 
difficulties in the way of trade with the West Indies. The 
terms of the treaty became known after the Senate ratified it. 
An outcry was at once raised against it. The newspapers 
were filled with discussions. Hamilton and others defended 
it by speeches and letters. Washington deliberated long, but 
finally signed it. His act was followed by the bitterest attacks 
upon his patriotism and character. He signed the treaty be^ 
cause, imperfect though it was, it was better than none. It 
was the first substantial recognition which England had made 
of the sovereign rights of the United States. The result 
proved his wisdom ; war was averted, commerce revived, and 
many who had denounced the treaty became its friends. 

88. The Western Posts and the Indians. — The removal of the 
English garrisons from the Western posts was a great point 
gained. So long as they remained, the Indians were con- 
stantly incited by them to annoy the settlers on the frontier. 
Companies of American soldiers were sent out to fight the 
Indians; but they failed, and the Indians vexed the settle- 
ments still more. The most serious defeat Avas that suffered 
by St. Clair near the head waters of the Wabash, in 1791.^ At 
last the chief command in the West was given to General 
Anthony Wayne. Washington, who was well acquainted with 
Indian warfare, gave him minute instructions. Wayne took 
the field in 1793, built forts as he advanced, and by vigorous 
assaults and quick movements gained complete victory over 
the Indians. They signed a treaty of peace in 1795, in which 
they abandoned their claim to a large territory. 

89. The Whisky Rebellion. — In the meantime aii affair 
occurred within the borders of the old thirteen colonies which 
was of importance as demonstrating that the new govermnent, 

1 It was on the occasion of hearing the news of St. Clair's defeat, that 
Washington burst into a torrent of indignant speech, one of the few times 
when this man of self-control gave way. See the account in my George 
Washington. 



THE UNITED STATES AND EUROPE. 



213 



besides being able to settle affairs with foreign countries and 
with Indians, could quell internal disorders. Congress had 
laid a tax on distilled spirits. Now the people in 
western Pennsylvania carried their grain to market 
in the shape of whisky, and they objected to the taxing of 
whisky, when the people east of the mountains were not 
taxed on the grain they carried to market in the form of 
grain. An insurrection arose, and the governor of the State 




Mt. Vernon. 

/was unable to suppress it; whereupon Washington called for 
troops from the neighboring States, and the force of the Fed- 
eral government put down the insurrection. People began 
to have more confidence in the Union when it was found 
strong enough to keep the peace in an unruly State. 

90. Washington's Farewell Address. — After serving two 
terms as President, George Washington returned to private 
life at Mt. Vernon. He had been for more than twenty 
years the foremost man of the country in the eyes of the 
world. When he left the Presidency, he made a Farewell 

Q 



214 ESTABLISHMENT OF THE UNION. 

Address to the People of the United States. In that address, 

which is weighty with wisdom, he urged the people to prize 

the Union which they had formed. He bade them remember 

that each part of the country had free intercourse 

i7Qfi ' '^i^^^ ^^^ ^^^^ other parts, and that each could help the 
others. He begged them to suffer no parties to rise 
within the Union which should weaken its strength, and he 
called on them to glory in the name of American. He re- 
minded them that Europe had interests with which America 
had little concern. "Extend your business relations with 
Europe," he said in effect, "but do not be dragged into her 
politics. Do not suffer yourselves to have passionate attach- 
ments for other nations. Be strong in yourselves, a.nd you 
will be independent of the Old World. "^ 

91. Administration of John Adams. — This note of alarm was 
needed at the time, for the two political parties in the country 
were still divided largely on European lines. John Adams, 
who was chosen as Washington's successor, was a Federalist; 
Thomas Jefferson, who was chosen Vice President, was the 
leader of the Democratic-Republican party, as the Anti-Fed- 
eralists were now called. Jay's treaty, which prevented war 
with England, almost caused war with France. That country 
sent the American minister out of the land. French cruisers 
seized in a few months as many as a thousand American ves- 
sels. They pretended that the captains were giving aid to the 
enemy, and they condemned the vessels to be sold. 

Envoys to France The President was anxious to avoid war 

with France, and he took somewhat the same course which 
Washington had followed with England. He sent a special 
commission of three envoys to France, — John Marshall, 
afterward Chief Justice, Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, and 
Elbridge Gerry. But France was then in the hands of wild 
revolutionists, who treated the envoys with the greatest in- 
dignity. They employed secret agents to deal with the 
envoys. These agents told the envoys that they must pay a 
1 The text of the Farewell Address is printed in No. 4 of Old South Leaflets. 



THE UNITED STATES AND EUROPE. 215 

sum of money to the government before they could be received 
at all. After that the tlnited States must lend money to 
France to enable her to carry on her war. When this was 
done, France would repeal some of the acts which injured 
American commerce. 

The envoys indignantly refused to accept such terms, and 
were ordered to leave France. The United States govern- 
ment at once published the report of the envoys, including the 
correspondence which they had with the agents. The names 
of the agents were concealed under the letters X, Y, Z. So 
great was the indignation in America that Congress made 
ready for a war with France. Washington was called from 
Mt. Vernon, and placed at the head of a new army. The 
navy was strengthened, privateers were fitted out, and a 
French privateer and frigate were captured in the West 
Indies. 

92. The Alien and Sedition Acts. — Pinckney had declared, 
"Millions for defense, but not one cent for tribute"; the 
words were taken up as a popular cry. The country was on 
the side of the government. The Federalists, who had been 
losing ground, were now stronger than before. They 
attempted to strengthen the government still further 

by passing in Congress two acts called the Alien and Sedition 
Laws. The Alien laws gave the President power to send out 
of the country any alien whom he might regard as dangerous 
to the peace of the country. The Sedition laws gave him 
power to fine and imprison any who might be found guilty of 
conspiring against the government or maliciously attacking 
it. These laws placed a power in the hands of the govern- 
ment which alarmed the Democratic-Republicans. They said 
the laws were aimed against them. They opposed the action, 
not as friends of France, but as Americans. They believed 
that less power should be given to the Federal government 
and more to the separate States. 

93. The Beginning of the State-rights Doctrine. — This be! ief , 
which so nearly prevented the adoption of the Constitution, 



216 ESTABLISHMENT OF T^UE UNION 

had never disappeared. It showed itself on every occasion, 
and helped to shape the course of the Democratic-Kepublican 
party. This party came to be called the State-rights party, 
because it was jealous lest the States should not have all their 
rights under the Constitution. Thus, when the Federalists 
forced through Congress the Alien and Sedition Laws, the 
Democratic-Republicans passed certain resolutions in the 
State legislatures of Virginia and Kentucky. These resolu- 
tions^ declared that the action of the Federal government 
was unconstitutional, and that it was the duty of the States 
to combine and refuse obedience. The resolutions 
maintained the theory that the Constitution was a 
compact between the States, and that the States together were 
the judges to decide if Federal laws were constitutional. 

94. Napoleon's Friendship. — Meanwhile, though there was 
open hostility between the United States and France, war was 
not actually declared. The President sent a new embassy to 

France, ^^apoleon Bonaparte, then at the head of 
1799. ^^^^j,g jj^ ^1-^^^ country, was wiser than those who had 
driven away the former envoys. In his plans the conquest 
of England had a large place. He saw the importance of a 
friendship with the American republic, and welcomed the 
embassy. He ordered the French cruisers to cease vexing 
American vessels. A treaty followed, which was received 
with great favor by both countries. 

95. The Death of Washington. — George Washington died on 
the 14th of December, 1799, " first in war, first in peace, and 
first in the hearts of his fellow citizens."^ The people of 
the land mourned for him whom they had learned to call the 
Father of his Country. In the year following, the seat of 
government was moved to the site which he had chosen on the 
banks of the Potomac. The city there laid out received the 
name of Washington. 

1 Madison drew the Virginia resolutions, and Jefferson the Kentucky. 

2 These were the words of a resolution of Congress. 



TUE UJSnED STATES A^D EUROPE. 217 



QUESTIONS. 

In what respect was the New World still a part of the Old ? How did 
the American Hevolution affect France ? How did the French Revolution 
affect America ? What effect did the war between France and England 
have on America ? Who was Genet and what did he undertake to do ? 
How did England estrange American feeling ? What course did Wash- 
ington pursue ? How was Jay's treaty regarded ? What was the state of 
things in the West ? What was the end of the Indian War ? Narrate the 
events of the Whisky Rebellion. What was the substance of Washing- 
ton's Farewell Address ? How many years had Washington been Presi- 
dent ? Who succeeded him in the administration ? What was the effect 
of Jay's treaty on relations with France ? How did President Adams 
meet the difficulties which arose ? Who were the envoys to France ? 
What treatment did they receive ? What policy did the Federalists pur- 
sue ? How did the opposition meet the Alien and Sedition Laws ? What 
part did Napoleon Bonaparte now play ? What was the date of Washing- 
ton's death ? How is his nam.e perpetuated ? 

SEARCH QUESTIONS. 

What was the origin of the French Revolution ? Who laid out the city 
of Washington ? What is the history of the Capitol ? What does the 
Constitution say respecting treaties ? What is meant by " executive 
session"? Who is an alien? Distinguish between an ambassador, a 
minister, and a consul. 



SUGGESTIONS FOR LITERARY TREATMENT. 

Compositions : 

The White House. 

A visit to Mt. Vernon. 

Napoleon Bonaparte. 

Account of a visit to Washington. 

Debate : 

Besolved, That Jay's treaty should not have been ratified. 



CHAPTER X. 

THE EXPANSION OF THE UNION. 
Ceded (sed'ed). Gave up. 

96. Jefferson's Administration and the Occupation of Ohio 

The first President to be inaugurated at Washington was 
Thomas Jefferson. He was elected to succeed John Adams, 
and held office for two terms, 1801-1809; for the power of the 
Federalists had. waned, and the party which stood for more 
democratic theories of government was behind the adminis- 
tration. There was peace for a while in Europe, and the 
United States was less distracted from attention to its own 
interior development. When the various States ceded their 
Western lands to the Union, Connecticut reserved a strip of 
land still popularly known as the Western Reserve, running 
along the shore of Lake Erie. Not till 1800 was that land 
given up to the Union. Meanwhile, settlers from Connecticut 
had been occupying it, and Cleveland was staked out in 1795. 
But it took three months for emigrants to make their way 
thither from Connecticut. The New England people had not 
at this time gone in large numbers to the Northwest except 
to the Western Reserve ; they had stopped in the fertile lands 
of the Mohawk Valley. The stream of emigration flowed 
rather from western Pennsylvania and the upper tier of 
Southern States. The frontiersmen were pushing up into the 
Northwestern Territory, and in 1800 this was cut into two 
sections, the territories of Ohio and Indiana. In 1803 the 
territory of Ohio became the State of Ohio.^ The founders of 
Ohio encouraged settlers by laying no taxes for four years 

1 The mnvement into the fertile fields of Ohio began in 1787-1788, when a 
company of forty-seven persons, under General Rufus Putnam, came from 

218 



THE EXPANSION OF THE UNION. 



219 



upon land bought of the United States. The United States 
in return gave to the State one section in each township for 
the support of common schools.^ Thus it was made easy for 

Massachusetts to Pittsburg, where they built a boat which they named the 
Maytiower, and after five days' passage down the river, settled upon the 
banks where the Muskingum joins the Ohio, and named the place Marietta. 
Manasseh Cutler, who had much to do with securing the ordinance of 1787, 
wrote a description of the country at that time, which is printed in Old South 
Leatiets, No. 40. About the same time, John Cleves Syrames obtained a grant 
of one million acres, bounded south by the Ohio and west by the Miami ; and 
two settlements were made, at South Bend, in what was afterwards Indiana, 
and Cincinnati. It is interesting to see how the name Sherman has been 
identified with the history of the State. In 1805, the proprietors of that part 
of the Western Reserve known as the Firelands put their property into the 
hands of Taylor Sherman. His son, Charles R. Sherman, was one of the 
judges of the Supreme Court of the State, and he, again, had two sons, General 
William Tecumseh Sherman, and Senator, afterwards Secretary, John Sher- 
man. The State has given more Presidents to the nation than any beside 
Virginia. It took its name from the river, so called by the Iroquois, meaning 
"Beautiful River." For a history, see Ohio in American Gommoyiwealths. 

1 The township in the West differs widely from the town in New England. 
It is the result of the simple but comprehensive system of surveys instituted 
by Congress in 1785. According to this system the government surveyors 
have marked out north and south lines called principal meridians. One of 
these is the dividing line between Ohio and Indiana. On each side of the 
principal meridians are range lines six miles apart. These all run north and 
south. Then a base line is drawn crossing these meridians on a true parallel 
of latitude. On each side of the base line at distances of six miles are drawn 
township lines. Thus the whole is marked off into townships six miles square, 
except in the Western Reserve, where it is five, and each township again is 
divided into thirty-six square sections, each one mile square, or 640 acres. 
Number sixteen of these sections in each township, which is the central one, 
is the one which has been reserved for the school fund. Here the schoolhouse 
has been placed, and has become the center of town life in many ways. The 
following diagram will make the arrangement of numbering clear: 



o|.. 


4 


8 


2 


1 


7 


8 


9 


10 


11 


12 


IS 


IT 


16 


15 


14 


18 


19 
30 


20 


21 


22 


23 


24 


29 


28 


2T 


26 


25 


81 


- 


83 


84 


35 


86 



220 ESTABLISHMENT O^ THE UNION. 

men to settle there, and they were encouraged to provide 
education for their children. 

97. Pinckney's Treaty By the terms of the Jay treaty, 

both England and the United States were to have free use of 
the Mississippi, but neither country controlled the mouth of 
that river. The Spanish had a fortified post at New Orleans, 
and they laid a heavy tax upon all merchandise passing that 
way. At the same time that Jay was negotiating his treaty 
with England, Thomas Pinckney was making a treaty with 
Spain. He secured the southern boundary claimed by the 
United States and what was known as the right of deposit 
at New Orleans, or elsewhere, by which it was made possible 
to ship goods to that port and afterwards to reship them with- 
out paying a heavy duty. The treaty gave great satisfaction 
to the Western men, but the Spanish were very slow in carry- 
ing out the agreement; it was not till 1797 that they gave up 
the posts at Natchez and elsewhere, and in 1798 this section 
was organized as Mississippi territory. 

98. The Purchase of Louisiana. — All the possessions of the 
United States lay to the east of the Mississippi River, but the 
state of affairs in Europe led now to most important expansion 
to the west of that river. Spain had made a secret treaty with 

France by which she ceded the territory of Louisiana. 

Jefferson, learning of this, sent a commission to 
France to buy the island on which New Orleans stood, and 

also the right of passage to the sea. He did this at 

the urgent demand of Western men, who were in a 
state of great indignation because the right of deposit at 
New Orleans had suddenly been withdrawn, and no other spot 
named. 

Bonaparte was at this time expecting a war between France 
and England. He knew that in case of war an English fleet 
would, be sent to the Gulf to take possession of Louisiana. It 
would be impossible for the French to hold the post of New 
Orleans ; but he was determined that the place should not fall 
into the hands of his great enemy. While the American com- 



110 . Loiiffitude 100 




I <^^A S I A IN 




^ L A N D 



Lincritndc '-'. "SVest S3 froin AVashin'jrton 63 




TERRITORIAL 

ACQUISITIONS 

OF THE 

UNITED STATES 

SCALE OF MILES 



100 200 300, 100 500 



Longitude 



from Washington 



THE EXPANSION OF THE UNION. 221 

missioners were considering the purcliase of New Orleans, he 
came forward with a proposition to sell not only what they 
wanted, but all Louisiana. The commissioners had been in- 
structed to offer two and a half million dollars for the island. 
Bonaparte named the price of twenty million dollars for the 
whole country. 

He would not give the commissioners time to consult with 
the American government. England might declare war at any 
moment. So, after some bargaining, it was agreed that France 
should make over to the United States all the territory which 
she had lately received from Spain. The United States was 
to pay France fifteen million dollars. Bonaparte was delighted 
with the sale. He had received a large sum for a country 
which he would shortly have had to surrender to England; he 
had increased the friendliness of France and the United States ; 
he had aimed a heavy blow at England. " This accession of 
territory," he said, "strengthens forever the power of the 
United States. I have given England a maritime rival, which 
will sooner or later humble her pride." 

99. The Exploration of Louisiana. — The United States took 
formal possession of the territory December 20, 1803. But no 
one really knew just what Louisiana included. Roughly, the 
name was applied by the French and Spanish to the whole 
western half of the Mississippi Valley and the country between 
the Mississippi and the Rio Grande. Very few people had any 
idea of the worth of the purchase, and Jefferson was accused 
of contradicting his own interpretation of the Constitution for 
making it. The settlers at the West, however, were over- 
joyed. Jefferson's popularity was increased by this and other 
measures, so that he was reelected President by a very large 
majority. 

He sent two officers of the army, Meriwether Lewis and 
William Clarke, with a party, to explore the vast country of 
Louisiana. They spent nearly three years in the journey. 
They ascended the Missouri and crossed the Rocky Mountains. 
They discovered the two rivers now called Lewis River and 



222 ESTABLISHMENT OF THE UNION. 

Clarke Eiver, followed them to the Columbia, and thus reached 
the Pacific. It was a wonderful journey, and gave the Ameri- 
can people their first knowledge of a great country which lay 
even beyond their new boundaries.^ 

100. Aaron Burr's Schemes. — During Jefferson's first term 
Aaron Burr was Vice President. He was a restless, scheming 
man, and was distrusted by the better men of the country.^ 
While Vice President he had killed Hamilton in a 
duel. Dueling was not then felt to be a disgrace, as it 
is now, and Burr continued to hold office ; but when his term 
ended, he left the Atlantic States to seek his fortune in the 
West. Although Louisiana was now United States soil, the 
whole country bordering the Mississippi was remote from 
the older settlements, and offered great temptations to a bold, 
adventurous leader like Burr. 

He gathered a company of daring men, and after two 
years of preparation began to descend the Mississippi. Ex- 
actly what his purpose was, no one seemed to know. 
Apparently he intended to seize the Spanish posses- 
sions in Mexico, and to establish himself and his followers 
in power there, as Cortez liad done before him. At any 
rate, his expedition was hostile to Spain, and the United 
States was at peace with that country. The President suf- 
fered him to make all his preparations; but when he was 
actually on the march, Jefferson issued a proclamation de- 
nouncing him. One who was in Burr's confidence is said to 
have betrayed him. The movement was stopped at Natchez, 
and Burr was arrested. He was tried for treason, but was 
not convicted, owing to an error in the form of the legal 
proceedings. 

1 The report of Lewis and Clarke's expedition issued by government has 
recently been republished under the editorship of Dr. Elliott Coues. Jefferson's 
Life of Captain Meriioether Lewis is given in Old South Leaflets, No. 44. 

2 Burr appears as a character in Mrs. Stowe's novel, The Minister's Wooing, 
and also in E. L. Bynner's story, Zachary Phlps. 



THE EXPANSION OF THE UNION. 228 

QUESTIONS. 

Who succeeded John Adams in the Presidency ? Who was Vice Presi- 
dent witli hiui in Ids first term ? Wliat early settlements were made in 
Ohio ? From what directions did settlers come ? What was Pinckney's 
treaty and what did it secure ? Narrate the circumstances attending the 
purchase of Louisiana. To what did the name of Louisiana apply ? 
What measures were taken to become acquainted with the new territory ? 
Who was Aaron Burr, and what was his adventure in the Southwest ? 

SEARCH QUESTIONS. 

What town in Ohio was early settled by Rufus Putnam and other 
soldiers ? How did Cleveland get its name ? What was the origin of the 
name Cincinnati ? What was the " Firelands " ? How did the Columbia 
Kiver get its name ? Who was Blennerh asset, and what had he to do with 
Burr's schemes ? What States and territories have been made out of the 
Louisiana territory ? 

SUGGESTIONS FOR LITERARY TREATMENT. 

COMPOSITIOXS : 

An account of the inauguration of Jefferson. 

The early settlement of Marietta. 

An account of Lewis and Clarke's expedition. 

Debates : 

Besolved, that Burr was a traitor. 

Besolved, That the President should be elected by the direct vote ot 
the people. 

Besolved, That the coming into power of the National Republican 
party in Jefferson's election was the best thing for the people. 



CHAPTER XI. 



THE UNITED STATES ENTANGLED WITH EUROPE, 



Algiers (al-jerz'). 

Tunis (tu'nis). 

Trip'o-li. 

Dey (da). The title of the governor 

of one of the Barbary States. 
Deca'tur. 
Derne (cler'ne). 



Block-ade'. The closing of the 
ports of a country against vessels 
entering or leaving. 

Im-press'. To force into service, 

Em-bar'go. An order forbidding 
ships to leave port. 

Tippecanoe (tip-e-ka-noo'). 



101. The War in Europe The war which was imminent 

when the United States acquired Louisiana broke out shortly 
after with great fury, and caused tlie people on the Atlantic 
coast to watch affairs on the other side of the ocean anx- 
iously; for war in Europe meant peril to American ships and 
sailors. There was, meantime, peril to American commerce 
from another source. A great trade was carried on in the 
Mediterranean Sea. The countries which bordered on it 
produced fruits and other articles not found elsewhere. The 
eastern ports, also, were depots for goods brought overland 
from Asia. 

102. The Pirates of the Barbary States. — Upon the south 
shore of the Mediterranean Sea was a group of states called 
the Barbary States. They were Algiers, Morocco, Tunis, 
and Tripoli. The people of these countries were chiefly 
Moors, Turks, and Arabs, and they were Mohammedan in 
religion. The ports of the Barbary States were infested by 
pirates, who darted out upon the vessels which sailed up and 
down the Mediterranean. Thes'e pirates were the terror of 
Europe. They not only plundered vessels and committed many 
murders, but they were also slave dealers, and sold into slavery 

224 



ENTANGLEMENT WITH EUROPE. 225 

the sailors whom they captured.^ Some mercantile countries 
of Europe paid a yearly tribute to the rulers of the Barbary 
States, that their vessels might be let alone. 

War with Tripoli. — England was the only nation these 
pirates really feared. So long as American vessels were 
under the English flag, they were reasonably secure. But 
when the United States became an independent nation, the 
pirates began to attack her merchant vessels, and to demand 
tribute. At first the government paid tribute, as the easiest 
way to protect American commerce. This went on until it 
was a humiliation not to be endured. The pirates grew more 
insolent, and in 1801 the Dey of Tripoli declared war upon 
the United States, because he was dissatisfied with the pay- 
ments made to him. For four years a series of fights took 
place between the pirates and the few vessels which could be 
spared from the little American navy. 

Decatur's Exploit One of the American naval officers per- 
formed a famous exploit. The Philadelphia, an American 
frigate, struck a reef in the harbor of Tripoli, and the com- 
mander was obliged to surrender the helpless vessel. A very 
high tide rose, floated her off, and gave the Tripolitans a fine 
addition to their navy. Stephen Decatur, a young lieutenant, 
entered the harbor with a small vessel, and, pre- 
tending to have lost his anchor, made fast to the \or\A ' 
Philadelphia. He had a number of men concealed 
in his vessel, and suddenly, at a signal, they all rushed aboard 
the Philadelphia. They set fire to it, returned without the 
loss of a man to their own vessel, and sailed away to the fleet 
outside. 

End of the War — The American navy in the Mediterranean 
was increased in the autumn of 1801. A vigorous attack was 
made upon the pirates, and a land force aided in capturing 
Derne, one of the ports of Tripoli. A treaty of peace was 
made, and prisoners were exchanged. This put an end for a 

1 Readers of Robinson Crusoe will remember how, in the early part of that 
story, Crusoe was thus captured. 



226 ESTABLISHMENT OF THE UNION. 



• 



while to the piracy. The war with Tripoli had compelled the 
United States to build more war vessels; it trained 
the American navy, somewhat as the French and 

Indian War had made officers and soldiers ready for the war 

of independence, and the country took pride in the exploits of 

its sailors. 

103. The European War in its Effect on American Commerce — 
There was immediate need of strength at sea, for the struggle 
between France and England was growing desperate, and all 
Europe was drawn into it. In 1804 Napoleon Bonaparte be- 
came Emperor of France. He was a general such as Europe 
had never before seen. He had behind him soldiers who would 
go wherever he might lead them. All France was flushed with 
victory and eager for further conquest. The countries were 
forced to take sides either with England or with France. In 
1806 Napoleon fought a series of battles which left England 
and Russia alone unconquered; he planned to subdue those 
countries also. England's power was in her commerce and 
manufactures; Napoleon aimed to destroy these. He issued 
from Berlin a decree, declaring that England was in a state of 
blockade. He claimed the right to seize all vessels trading 

with England or her colonies. England replied with 
™g ' an Order in Council, that is, an order made by the 

king and his ministry, not an act of Parliament; this 
order forbade all commerce with the ports of Europe which 
were within the French dominion or in countries allied with 
France. 

104. The Impressment of Seamen. — The effect of these and 
similar proclamations was felt severely by American mer- 
chants. As neutrals, the Americans had secured almost all 
the carrying trade of Europe, and had a very large business 
in the West Indies. The decision made in the English courts 
took away from neutrals all but the most insignificant privi- 
leges, and the English navy pounced down on American vessels 
under the slightest pretext. Not only were merchant vessels 
captured and sailors impressed under pretense that they were 



ENTANGLEMENT WITH EUROPE. 227 

Englishmen, but the British ship Leopard overhauled the 
American frigate Chesapeake in American waters 
and took from her some men who were said to have ^om ' 
deserted from the British navy. 

This altair excited the greatest indignation in the United 
States. President Jefferson issued a proclamation forbidding 
British armed vessels to enter American ports. The British 
government made a half apology for what was really an act 
of war. The United States could only protest. She had no 
navy strong enough to enable her to demand satisfaction. 

105. The Embargo and Non-Intercourse Acts. — It was neces- 
sary to pursue some policy in answer to the repression of 
American commerce, and Jefferson induced Congress to pass 
an Embargo Bill. By this bill all American vessels were 
forbidden to leave American ports for Europe. For- 
eign vessels were forbidden to land cargoes. The -fo'ny * 
purpose of the embargo was to cripple European, and 
especially English, trade; but England did not need our trade 
nearly so much as we needed hers. The chief effect of the 
embargo was therefore to impoverish American merchants, and 
to stop business in the ports from which their vessels sailed. 

Next it cut off farmers and planters from sending their 
produce abroad. It soon appeared that the United States 
could not get along without Europe. As months went an, 
the Embargo Act became so unpopular, that before the close 
of Jefferson's second term many of his friends forsook him. 
A great pressure was brought to bear, and Congress repealed 
the act. It passed, in its place, a Non-Intercourse Act, which 
continued the embargo with England and France, but left 
commerce free with other European countries. 

lOS. Madison's Administration The Non-Intercourse Act 

went into operation March 4, 1809, when James Madison suc- 
ceeded to the Presidency. Madison held office for two terms, 
from 1809 to 1817. He belonged to Jefferson's party, and 
continued the same policy. Party feeling had grown very 
bitter. New England, which suffered most from the breaking 



228 ESTABLISHMENT OF THE UNION. 




James Madison.i 

1 James Madison was born in Omnge County, Virginia, March 16, 1751. 
He was graduated at Princeton in 1772, and studied a year longer in theology. 
He went home and tanght his yonnger brothers and sisters, for he was the 
eldest of twelve children, and meanwhile applied himself to the study of law 
and history. He was soon to have occasion to make large use of his attain- 
ments. He was the youngest member of the Committee of Safety, in Orange 
County, in 1774; was a delegate to the State Convention, where he took part 
in making a constitution ; was delegate to the Continental Congress in 1780. 
He was practically the author of the plan by which the government was dis- 
tributed among the three great powers of legislature, judicial, and executive, 
and also the system by which tlie House of Representatives was based on popu- 
lation, the Senate on States. He died at Montpelier, Virginia, June 28, 1836. 



ENTANGLEMENT WITH EUROPE. 229 

up of trade, was the stroiigliold of the Federalists. These 
comphiiiied loudly that if it were not for the Embargo and 
No n- Intercourse acts there would be no trouble. The Southern 
and Western people, who were principally Democratic-Ilepub- 
licans, retorted that they had evidence of negotiations between 
the New England Federalists and England; that the Federal- 
ists were planning for a separation of New England from the 
Union. This charge was indignantly denied, but it helped to 
increase political hostility. 

107. Indian Hostilities. — On the western frontier was another 
enemy, the ever- watchful Indian. The Indians were wont to 
fight in scattered parties, but now and then a great chief arose 
who had the skill to combine many tribes into one army. Such 
a chief was Philip in the early days, and Pontiac later. Now 
appeared another, Tecumseh, who was aided by his brother, the 
Prophet, a man of great influence among the Indians. William 
Henry Harrison, afterward President, and at this time governor 
of Indiana territory, had persuaded some of the tribes to give 
up their lands in return for presents. Tecumseh and 

the Prophet declared that these tribes had no right -^Z^-^' 
to give up what belonged to all. A sharp contest 
followed, which ended with the battle of Tippecanoe, when 
Harrison defeated Tecumseh. 

108. The Seizure of Vessels and Men. — All this while, 
France and England continued at war. Napoleon was study- 
ing how he might get the better of England, and he withdrew 
his decrees prohibiting commerce with England so far as the 
United States was concerned. Congress at once repealed the 
Non-Intercourse Act so far as it related to France. England 
and the United States grew more irritated with each other. 
The English continued to seize vessels and men. More than 
nine hundred American vessels had been seized since 1803. 
Several thousand American seamen had been impressed into 
the British service. The people of the United States were 
exasperated at their losses, and at their inability to protect 
themselves. 



230 ESTABLISHMENT OF^TIIE UNION. 

109. War declared against Great Britain Madison wished 

to conti 1111.6 the general peace policy of Jefferson, but his 
party refused to follow his lead. New leaders sprang up, 
among whom were Henry Cla}'', of Kentucky, and John C. 
Calhoun, of South Carolina. They obeyed the demands of 
the country, and compelled Congress to raise an army and 
strengthen the navy. On the 18th of June, 1812, Congress 
formally declared war against England. It was by' no means a 
unanimous movement. The New England Federalists bitterly 
opposed it. The chief support came from the South and 
West, which felt less keenly the effect upon their prosperity 
caused by the breaking up of commerce, and on the other hand 
were brought directly in contact with the enemy upon the 
border. 

QUESTIONS. 

Why should the United States have been affected by a war in Europe ? 
What were the Barbary States ? What effect did the piracy have on 
commerce ? How did Americans first protect themselves ? Narrate the 
exploit of Decatur. What was the end of the war ? What was the career 
of Napoleon? How did France and England retaliate on each other? 
How did the United States feel the war? What was the affair of the 
Chesapeake? How did Jefferson seek to strengthen the United States ? 
Explain the Embargo Bill, the Non-Intercourse Act. AVho succeeded 
Jefferson ? Narrate the war with the Indians. Describe the further com- 
plications with England and France. What new leaders came to the 
front? What was the attitude of the New England Federalists? 

SEARCH QUESTIONS. 

What was meant by "once an Englishman always an Englishman" ? 
What was meant by the "carrying trade"? Why did New England 
oppose the War of 1812 ? 

SUGGESTIONS FOR LITERARY TREATMENT. 

Composition ; 

An account of the battle of Tippecanoe. 

Debate : 

Besolved, That the Embargo Act was beneficial to the American people. 



CHAPTER XII. 

THE SECOND WAR FOR INDEPENDENCE. 



Guerriere (ge-ri-ar'). 

To strike colors is to lower the fl;ig 

in token of surrender. 
Meigs (megz). 



Cockburn (ko'burn). 
Borgne (born). 
Pakenham (pak'en-am). 
Ghent (gent). 



110. Causes of the War The chief grounds on which the 

United States Avent to war with England were the inter- 
ference with tlie neutral trade by the Orders in Council, 
the impressment of seamen, and the inciting the Indians on 
the border. This last cause of hostility led to immediate 
action in 'the northwest. The nearest part of Great Britain 
which the United States army could reach was Canada. 

111. Movements on the Canada Border. — General Henry Dear- 
born was commander-in-chief, and General William Hull, gov- 
ernor of Michigan territory, was commander of the forces in 
the West. As soon as war was declared. General Hull moved 
a small army across the Detroit River, and demanded the sur- 
render of Fort Maiden. The British had moved first. They 
had surprised Fort Mackinaw, at the head of Lake Huron, and 
captured it. The Indians saw their opportunity to fight the 
people who were occupying their lands, and at once joined the 
British. 

Hull, fearing he could not hold his position, recrossed the 
river and occupied Detroit, which was a fortified place. The 
British general, Isaac Brock, followed him, and de- 
manded the surrender of Detroit. Hull had no con- ,^^,0 ' 
fidence that he could stand out against the larger 
force which was brought against him, and surrendered. Peo- 
ple were furious, and declared Hull to be another Benedict 

231 



232 



ESTABLISHMENT OF . THE UNION. 



Arnold. He was tried by court-martial and sentenced to be 
shot; but the President pardoned him. 

A fresh attempt was made to invade Canada. The Americans 
crossed Niagara River, and planned to take Queenstown Heights 




Blade Ii>lmr^' ^--O, ^ 1 ^V'^ ^ 

WASHINGTON^'* I ,^--,) Cl r \"^^ ^ *,^ 



^-&^h^H 






(see map, p. 236). They gained 
some advantage at lirst, and 
drove the British before them. 
Greneral Brock, who 

Oct. 13, ^ rl^ ^ r^ 

1812 ^^^^ George, 

hurried to the field, 

and was mortally wounded. 

The Americans were obliged to retreat, though they made a 
gallant stand under Lieutenant Colonel Winfield Scott. The 
expedition was a failure. 

112. Naval Operations. — While the Americans were thus 
defeated on the Canada border,' they were winning victories 
on that battle ground where the greatest grievance had been. 
The little American navy of twenty ships of war and a few 



THE SECOND WAR FOR INDEPENDENCE. 233 

gunboats had to encounter the English navy of more than a 
thousand vessels. But every American sailor was lighting for 
his rights as well as for his country. Within an hour after 
the declaration of war was known, Commodore John Kodgers, 
of the President, weighed anchor and was off to catch the 
nearest British ship. He chased a frigate, which escaped. 
He crossed the Atlantic, and captured a privateer and seven 
merchantmen. He retook an American ship which had been 
captured by the enemy, returned with his prizes to America, 
and was off again. 

Naval Victories. — Other American ships were equally ac- 
tive. The frigate Constitution, Captain Isaac Hull, who 
was a nephew of General Hull, fought the British frigate 

Guerriere, and in half an hour made her strike her 

Auff 19 
colors. He put back to Boston to land his prisoners. -lo-ip * 

The whole town turned out to meet him, and people 
were wild with delight at the bravery of their sailors. Stephen 
Decatur, who was now commodore, and in command of the 
frigate United States, captured the frigate Macedonian; and 
brought his prize into Xew York on New Year's day. The 
Constitution, again, now under Commodore Bain- 
bridge, attacked the British ship Java off the South -■ o'no ' 
American coast, and demolished it. 

People gave to the Constitution the name "Old Ironsides."^ 
Besides the little navy, many merchantmen were turned into 
privateers, and went roving about the seas. Nearly three hun- 
dred British vessels, vv^ith three thousand prisoners, were 
brought into United States ports before winter. There were 
occasional losses, but the advantage was decidedly with the 
Americans. The British, after the defeat which they had 
suffered from the American navy in 1812, strengthened their 
Atlantic squadron. During the summer of 1813 they at- 

1 In 1833, when it was proposed to destroy her as unseaworthy, Holmes 
wrote the stirring poem, " Old Ironsides," and saved her. She was rebuilt, and 
di:l service until she was formally put out of commission, in 1881, and taken 
to Portsmouth Navy Yard. Congress has again voted to repair her (1807). 



234 ESTABLISHMENT OF THE UNION. 

tempted to blockade tlie coast from Maine to Georgia. Con- 
gress, in turn, hastened to build new ships ; and the courageous 
privateers continued to fight pluckily, and to bring prizes into 
United States ports. 

113. Harrison's Campaign. — The disasters on land had led 
the government to collect a larger army, which was placed 

under command of General Harrison. The British 
^^^^l o ' and Indians, led by General Proctor and Tecumseh, 

made several attempts against Harrison's forces. 
They succeeded at French town, where a portion of Harrison's 
army was placed; but they failed at Fort Meigs and Fort 
Stephenson. 

Perry's Victory on Lake Erie. — So much of the frontier was 
occupied by the Great Lakes that it was of the greatest impor- 
tance to get control of these. Captain Oliver H. Perry directed 
the building of a fleet on Lake Erie, and sailors were sent for- 
ward from the seacoast. He had just completed nine vessels, 
which were at anchor in Put-in Bay, when he saw the British 

approaching. He at once moved out to meet the 
%n n ' enemy, and in a little more than two hours was able 

to send this despatch to General Harrison: "We 
have met the enemy, and they are ours : two ships, two brigs, 
one schooner, and one sloop." 

The Battle of the Thames. — Harrison was anxious to recover 
possession of Michigan, which had been lost when Hull sur- 
rendered Detroit. With the aid of Perry's fleet, which trans- 
ported some of his troops, he moved upon Fort Maiden. 

Proctor set fire to the fort and retreated with 
I8I3' "I'^cumseh, meaning to join the other British forces 

at Niagara. Harrison set out in pursuit, and Proctor 
halted on the river Thames, near Moravian Town, where a bat- 
tle was fought. The British were defeated; Proctor escaped, 
but Tecumseh was killed. The American success restored 
Michigan to the country, and Harrison became very popular. 

114. Operations in the Southwest. — The war gave the Indians 
an opportunity which they were quick to seize. In the South 



THE SECOND WAR FOR INDEPENDENCE. 



235 



the Americans had taken possession of Mobile, which was hekl 
by a few Spaniards. It was in territory claimed both by Spain 
and by the United States. The Spaniards had no power to 
resist, but they incited the Creek Indians to take up arms 
against the Americans. The people of the southwestern 
States raised companies to fight an enemy which was thus at 
their very doors. 

The Creeks were a vigorous tribe, and were partly supplied 
with arms and ammunition. They surprised Fort Mimms, 
and destroyed the garrison. Then 
they marched into the interior, 
and up the Alabama River. 
Tennessee was prompt in raising 
men, and placed Andrew Jackson 
in command. He was aided by 
pioneers who were skilled in In- 
dian warfare. Other forces, also, 
came from Georgia and Mississ- 
ippi, and during the rest of the 
year and the begin- 
ning of 1814 the 
Creeks were hard 
pushed. The whites, 
who hated the Indi- 
ans, and were never 
sorry of an excuse 
to get rid of them, 
killed great numbers 
and showed no quar- 
ter. 




Map illustrating the Creek War. 



115. The Campaigns of 1814. — The Americans made a fresh 
effort to invade Canada in 1814. They failed in an 
attempt to retake Fort Mackinaw, but a movement -101^4' 
on the Niagara River was more successful. At the 
battle of Chippewa they put the British to rout, and then 
determined to move upon Kingston. 



236 



ESTABLISHMENT OF THE UNION. 



Battle of Lundy's Lane. — To do this, it was necessary to 
have the cooperation of the fleet; but the fleet was not ready. 
The British had been reenforced, and were strongly posted at 
Queenstown. General Scott was sent forward to make obser- 
vations, and came upon the entire British force drawn up at 
Lundy's Lane, opposite Niagara Falls. Here the Americans 
attacked the British, and sent back for reenforcements. A 

terrible fight followed, in 



ONTABTO 







July 25. 

1814. 



which both armies suf- 
fered severely. 
The British were 
repulsed; but the 
Americans were too ex- 
hausted to follow up 
their victory, and re- 
turned to Chippewa. 
Their principal officers 
were wounded, and Scott 
was unable to return to 
duty again during the 
war. The Americans re- 
treated to the defenses 
of Fort Erie, and the 
British besieged the 
place. The siege lasted 
through the summer, and 
then the British aban- 
doned it. The Ameri- 
cans destroyed the fort and returned to their side of the river. 
The campaign had cost many lives, and neither party had 
gained any real advantage. 

Burning of Washington. — The British, however, seemed to 
be gaining. In Europe Napoleon had been defeated, and 
England was thus enabled to spare more men for the war in 
America. Her policy was to march two armies into the 
United States. One army was to descend from Canada^ and 



NIAGARA RIVER 

■^rnlr 1" Miles 



THE SECOND WAR FOR INDEPENDENCE. 237 

the other was to land at New Orleans and march northward. 
To divert attention, a fleet under Admiral Cockburn sailed up 
the Potomac and attacked the capital. There was 
scarcely any resistance, and, to their disgrace, the ^^o\^^' 
British destroyed public buildings, books, and pa- 
pers ; nothing was spared except the Patent Office and the jail. 

British Repulse at Fort McHenry and at Plattsburg Another 

attack was made by a British fleet upon Baltimore. The 
enemy landed men a few miles below the town, but 
the Americans gallantly repulsed them. Then the ^nmi^' 
fleet bombarded the forts which protected Baltimore, ' . 

and tried to land men to attack them in the rear. The forts 
could not reach the vessels, but they drove back the land 
forces. Fort McHenry received the hottest fire from the fleet. 

It was upon seeing the flag still flying from the fort, when 
the smoke cleared away, that Francis Scott Key wrote the 
national song, "The Star-spangled Banner." The fleet finally 
abandoned the attempt, and sailed away. The British under- 
took to bring their army from Canada to New York by the 
familiar Lake Champlain route. General Macomb, 
in command of a small force at Plattsburg, and 2014 ' 
Lieutenant Macdonough, with a little fleet, com- 
pletely repulsed the British at the battle of Plattsburg, and 
compelled them to return to Canada. 

116. The Operations about New Orleans. — The army and fleet 
which were to take New Orleans made their rendezvous at 
Pensacola. Louisiana had been admitted to the Union in 
1812, and every one felt the importance of New Orleans.^ If 

1 The importance of New Orleans was early perceived, as will be seen by- 
Section 24 of the Introduction. The free passage of the river was a matter of 
the greatest consequence to the Western settlers. See Sections 49, 61, 97-99, 
above. It was a matter of the utmost importance during the war for the 
Union ; but perhaps no struggle has been so severe as that of science to keep 
the channel free. The engineering works at the mouth of the Mississippi, 
built under the direction of Captain J. B. Eads, under contract with the United 
States government, resulted in keeping clear a channel of two hundred feet 
in width, and more than twenty feet in depth. 



238 ESTABLISHMENT OF THE UNION, 

the British should obtain possession of it, they would control 
the Mississippi and the Western country. Andrew Jackson 
was in command of the Southwestern forces, and moved rapidly 
to the coast. The British had been prevented from taking Mo- 
bile, and they abandoned Bensacola when Jacksou approached. 
Hurrying to New Orleans, Jackson made vigorous preparations 
to defend that city. He called upon everybody, white and 
black, to help build fortifications. He attacked the enemy in 
their camp at night. His energy inspired the greatest enthu- 
siasm. General Sir Edward Pakenham and General Gibbs were 
in command of the British forces. They made defenses of 
hogsheads of sugar, while Jackson used cotton bales for the 
same purpose. The guns on each side quickly destroyed these 
temporary barricades, and Jackson made earthworks from the 
black mud of tlie river bank. 

117. Battle of New Orleans. — After a fortnight's siege, the 
British determined to storm the American works. Early in 
the morning of January 8, 1815, they made two attacks. Jack- 
son's men, trained to rifle shooting, and aided by artillery, met 
them with coolness, and in less than half an hour the battle 
was over. General Pakenham was killed ; General Gibbs was 
mortally wounded. The British loss was so heavy that the 
whole expedition was abandoned. 

118. The Treaty of Ghent. — The victory was a complete one 
for the Americans; yet the battle was unnecessary. A fort- 
night before it was fought, a treaty of peace between the two 

countries had been signed at Ghent, in Belgium. 
1814 ' ^^i^^^®^' army knew of it, nor did the news at once 
reach the scattered vessels of the navy. These con- 
tinued their operations until one by one they learned that the 
war was over. So bitter had been the continued opposition 
to the war in New England, that while the battle of New 
Orleans was going on, a convention of the New England States 
was sitting at Hartford, Connecticut, and passing resolutions 
very like the Virginia and Kentucky resolutions of 1798. In 
those days news traveled slowly, and a delegation was on its 



THE SECOND IV A R FOR INDEPENDENCE. 289 

way from Hartford to Washington when the word came that 
peace had been dechired. 

119. The independence of the United States was securely fixed 
by the War of 1812. Altliough in the treaty of Ghent there 
was no word about the impressment of seamen, that grievance 
was not again to arise. The country was not only established 
in its own domain, but it had equal rights with Europe on the 
broad seas. It was henceforth to be one of the great powers 
of the world. The last vestige of subjection to the Old 
World disappeared when Decatur sailed into the harbor of 
Algiers in June, 1815. That country had again declared war 
upon the United States. Decatur compelled the Algerines to 
meet him on his own ship and give up forever all their de- 
mands. The other Barbary States signed similar treaties, and 
American commerce was free. 

QUESTIONS. 

What were the causes of the war with Great Britain ? Where did 
operations begin ? What was tlie result of the first encounter ? Narrate 
the affair of Queenstown Heights. What was the size of tlie American 
navy at this time ? TeU of the exploits of Rodgers ; of Isaac Hull ; of 
Decatur. What is the history of the ship Constitution ? How was the 
navy reenforced ? Narrate the beginning of Harrison's campaign. Tell 
of Perry's victory. Proceed with Harrison's movements. Wliat went on 
in the Southwest ? Describe the campaign of 1814. What was the British 
plan of operation ? Give an account of the affair out of which the " Star- 
spangled Banner" arose. What was the battle of Plattsburg ? Narrate 
the incidents which led up to the battle of New Orleans. What was the 
result of the battle itself ? Need it have been fought ? What was the 
Hartford Convention ? What was the final sign of the independence of 
the United States ? 

SEARCH QUESTIONS. 

What were the terms of the treaty of Ghent ? How much of the old 
Constitution remains in the vessel now to be seen ? 

SUGGESTIONS FOR LITERARY TREATMENT. 
Debate : 

Besolved, That the Hartford Convention was a secession movement. 




Copyright, IS'Jl, by M. P Rice. 



Abraham Lincoln. 
Born February 12, 1809 ; died April 15, 1865. 

240 



BOOK II. 

DEVELOPMENT OF THE UEION. 



CHAPTER XIII. 

THE UNION AND ITS NEIGHBORS. 
Sem'i nole. * Sabine (sa-ben'). 

120. The War of 1812, as it is commonly called, came at the 
end of a long period of warfare which had been carried on 
upon both sides of the Atlantic. In 1755, England and France 
began a contest which lasted, with short cessations from fight- 
ing, for sixty years. In 1815, the defeat of Napoleon Bona- 
parte at Waterloo ended the contest. America was closely 
connected with the long war, for it broke out on American 
soil. The first fight of seven years — the French and Indian 
War — left America in 1763 in the hands of Great Britain. 
When the English colonies fought for their independence, they 
drew the French into a fresh fight with England. This last 
war had grown out of the close connection which the United 
States had with France and England. The chief result of the 
war was to make the United States more independent of 
Europe. The long peace which now followed in Europe, last- 
ing till 1853, helped the United States to grow strong and 
self-reliant. 

121. Monroe's Administrations. — For a while there was an 
end to party strife. The Federalist party no longer had any 
strength. The opposition it had shown to the war made it 

241 



242 



DEVELOPMENT OF THE UNION. 



very unpopular. Yet the Democratic-Republican party had 
abandoned some of its distinctive principles. It no longer 
stood for opposition to strong national assertion. When James 

Monroe^ was elected 
in 1816 to succeed 
Madison, there were 
but thirty-four electo- 
ral votes cast for the 
opposing candidate ; 
when he was reelected 
four years later, there 
was but one vote cast 
against him. Thus the 
period of his admin- 
istration came to be 
^ \ ■^ asr m .^i^^^^l^^ c\ ^ known as the Era of 

^ ^^fl ^_^ .^^^^^B^^""! ^^^^ Feeling. 

* "^^ 122. The Great Lakes 

as a Bond of Peace. — 
The Union of eight- 
een States had a great 
country which it was 
to occupy. The bound- 
aries were not changed by the war. Its most important neigh- 
bor was England, with its Canadian possessions on the north. 




James Monroe. 



1 James Monroe was born in Westmoreland County, Virginia, April 28, 
1758. He was a student at William and Mary College, but the war broke 
up his studies ; he entered the army as lieutenant in 1776 and rose to be 
lieutenant colonel. He made Jefferson's acquaintance when that brilliant 
leader was governor of Virginia, and was pushed forward by him into various 
positions of influence. He took part in the State convention which adopted 
the Federal Constitution, and was senator from his State from 1790 to 1794. 
When Washington sent the Federalist Jay to England, he sent the anti- 
Federalist Monroe to France. On his return he was governor of Virginia for 
three years. Then Jefferson sent him to France to negotiate the treaty which 
led to the purchase of Louisiana. He was Secretary of State under Madison 
and for a while acting Secretary of War. He retired to private life after 
serving as President for two terms, and died in New York, July 4, 1831. 



THE UNION AND ITS NEIGHBORS. 243 

The chief theater of war had been on aud abuut the Great 
Lakes separating the two nations, and with a foresight rarely 
seen in national relations, the two countries entered 
upon an agreement by which each power was to keep ■^^m7^' 
only one naval vessel on Lake Ontario, two on the 
Upper Lakes, and one on Lake Champlain ; and these vessels 
were not to be larger than one hundred tons' burden, and were 
to be armed each with only one eighteen-pound cannon. It is 
not easy to overestimate the value of this provision in keeping 
the peace between the two countries. 

123. Dealings with Spain and the Indian Tribes. — Spain was 
another neighbor, possessing Florida on the south, and Mexico 
on the southwest. She also claimed all the western coast of 
North America, as far north as the British possessions. But 
England and Spain were not the only foreign neighbors of the 
United States. Within the boundaries of the country were 
peoples who made treaties with the United States, just as did 
foreign nations like England, France, or Spain. 

The United States acted toward the Indians who lived 
wdthin its territory as it acted toward the English or the 
Spaniards who occupied land lying outside of its territory. 
That is, the United States did not deal with each separate 
Englishman who owned a strip of land in Canada, or with each 
separate Spaniard w^ho owned a bit of Florida ; it dealt with 
the nation of Great Britain, or the nation of Spain. When 
the United States bought Louisiana, it bought it of France, 
and not of the different French or Spanish people who owned 
plantations in Louisiana. Thus, when it came to deal with 
the Indians, it did not deal with each separate Indian. 

But though there were many Indians in the country, there 
was no general Indian nation with a government. There 
were separate Indian tribes, and it was with each of these 
tribes that the United States had dealings. Each tribe had 
a tract of country over which it roved. Here were its hunt- 
ing grounds, and here its few fields which the women planted 
and harvested from year to year. A bark hut was the most 



244 DEVELOPMENT OF THE UNION. 

lasting building. When the game was gone from one place, 
the Indians moved to another. It was not easy to say what 
were the exact boundaries of the country occupied by each 
tribe. The whites, as they cleared away the woods and 
planted their farms, were quite sure to be taking possession 
of land which the Indians claimed as their own. 

Indian Wars. — The pioneer whites were thus constantly 
getting into trouble with the Indians. When fighting be- 
came general, the United 'States, or the State in which the 
trouble occurred, was called upon to defend the whites, and 
an Indian war followed. The Indians were certain to be de- 
feated, and then the United States would make a treaty with 
the tribe, buy the land which had been fought about, and com- 
pel the Indians to move farther away. Thus, in 1814, as we 
have seen, when the country was in arms against Great 
Britain, there was a fight going on with the Creek Indians 
in Georgia and Alabama. The end of it was that the Creeks 
were obliged to give up a large portion of their territory and 
move West. Many of them, however, still remained, and there 
was bitter feeling between them and the settlers. 

124. Jackson in Florida. — The difficulty was greater because 
the country in dispute lay next to the Spanish possessions in 
Florida. These possessions had but few Spanish villages or 
plantations. A tribe of Indians, the Seminoles, was scattered 
over the peninsula. Many Seminoles had been driven out of 
the Southern colonies before the War for Independence. Now 
it was an easy matter for slaves in Georgia and Alabama to 
run away to the thickets and swamps of Florida. The Creeks 
and Seminoles were always ready to help them. A border 
war sprang up, in which the whites were constantly crossing 
the Florida line to recapture slaves or to fight the Indians. 

General Andrew Jackson was placed in command of an ex- 
pedition in 1817, with instructions to carry on a campaign 
against the Seminoles. He was permitted to pursue them, if 
necessary, into Florida, but was not to attack any Spanish fort. 
Jackson was not a cautious man. He entered Florida, seized 



THE UNION AND ITS NEIGlIIiORS. 245 




Andrew Jackson. * 

1 Jackson was born of north of Ireland stock March 15, 17G7, in the Wax- 
haw settlement on the border between North and South Carolina. He had 
little schooling, but at the age of eighteen began to study law. He was a 
rollicking, mischievous fellow, delighting in cock fighting, horse racing, and 
all the rougher sports of a wild community, but he had a native delicacy of 
nature which made him reverence women and pay them always involuntary 
homage. In 1788 he was appointed public prosecutor for that part of North 
Carolina which afterward became Tennessee. He went to what was then the 
frontier, and showed himself a man of splendid courage both in carrying out 
the law and in the conflict between the whites and the Indians. He took part 
in framing the constitution of Tennessee, served as member of Congress, and 
was made judge of the supreme court of Tennessee. From 1801 he was com- 



246 DEVELOPMENT Of THE UNION. 

Indians and white traders, and hung men without a regular 
trial. He took possession of Spanish forts and built a fort of 
his own. So popular was he, however, and so eager were his 
friends to get possession of Florida, that instead of being 
reproved by Congress he was regarded as a great hero. 

125. Spain cedes Florida. — In the meantime the government 
at Washington was trying to remove all difficulties by persuad- 
ing Spain to sell Florida. Spain protested against Jackson's 
conduct ; but the kingdom was weak, and in no condition to 
go to war with the United States. After long bargaining, 
Spain made a treaty with the United States in 1819, giving 
up all claims to any territory east of the Mississippi River. 
West of the Mississippi, the Sabine River was to be the 
boundary with Mexico. She received in return from the 
United States five million dollars. 

126. Revolt of the Spanish Provinces. — The United States 
now controlled tlie entire seaboard from the St. Croix River on 
the northeast to the Sabine on the southwest; and Congress 
expended large sums of money in fortifying the coast and 
inland frontier. It established navy yards and enlarged the 
navy. One sign of the strength which the Union possessed 
v/as in the influence which it had on its neighbors. The 
provinces of Spain in Mexico, Central America, and South 
America threw off the dominion of the mother country, and 
set up republics after the pattern of the United States. 

127. The Holy Alliance. — But the occasion soon came for an 
even more positive statement of the authority of the United 
States. There existed at this time a compact, called the Holy 
Alliance, between the great continental powers, Russia, Aus- 
tria, and Prussia, the main purpose of which was to strengthen 
the position of the monarchies against the movements which 
looked toward republican government. The Holy Alliance met 

mander-in-chief of the Tennessee militia, and as has been seen took active 
part in the War of 1812. His later career can be traced in this history. He 
died at his place called the Hermitage, near Nashville, June 8, 1845. Read the 
lives by James Parton and by W. G. Sumner. 



THE UNION AND ITS NEIGHBORS. 247 

at Verona in Italy and discussed the question of aiding Spain 
to reestablish its authority over the American provinces that 
had revolted. 

Both England and the United States took alarm. It was 
generally believed, whether rightly or wrongly, that a plan 
was on foot by which Spain was again to have her American 
provinces, Mexico was to be given to France, and California to 
Russia ; that this plan was to be carried out by the Holy Alli- 
ance, Spain, France, and Russia. Eussia had already, by an 
edict of the Czar, asserted a claim over all the Pacific coast of 
North America from Bering Strait to the fifty-first parallel of 
latitude. 

The first important notice taken by the United States was 
when the Secretary of State, John Quincy Adams (July 17, 
1823), declared to the Russian minister at Washington that 
"we should contest the right of Russia to any territorial estab- 
lishment on this continent, and that we should assume dis- 
tinctly the principle that the American continents are no 
longer subject for any new European colonial establishments." 

128. The Monroe Doctrine. — The second notice was even more 
significant. Great Britain had no wish to see the continental 
powers securing authority in America, and the Minister of 
Foreign Affairs proposed to the United States minister in 
London that the two governments should unite in a joint 
declaration against the proposal of the Holy Alliance. Mr. 
Rush, the United States minister, had no instructions from his 
government, but he said he would agree to such a declaration 
if Great Britain would acknowledge the independence of the 
Spanish American provinces as the United States had already 
done. 

This the British government was not prepared to do. So 
there was no joint declaration ; but the two nations made sepa- 
rate declarations. President Monroe declared in a message to 
Congress that the United States would preserve a strict _^p„ 
neutrality in the war between Spain and her provinces, 
but that when any province became independent, the United 



248 DEVELOPMENT O^ THE UNION. 

States would regard an attack upon it by a European power as 
an attack upon herself. This declaration has received the name 
of the Monroe Doctrine.^ It was meant to assert that the 
United States had so great an iuterest in the prosperity of the 
whole American continent, that it never would permit Europe 
to recover any foothold in America which it once had lost, or 
to wrest any territory from states there established. 

1 President Monroe's Message of 1823 is No. 56 of Old South Leaflets. 

QUESTIONS. 

How was the period of warfare between 1755 and 1815 divided? 
"What was the length of peace in Europe after 1815 ? How were the 
political parties in Monroe's administration divided ? Name the agree- 
ment between the United States and Great Britain regarding the policing 
of the Great Lakes, and state the effect upon the prosperity of the two 
countries bordering on the lakes. What possession did Spain have on 
the North American continent at this time ? What was the policy of the 
United States in the treatment of Indians ? What was the result of the 
Creek War ? Narrate Jackson's movements in Florida. What did Spain 
give up in selling Florida ? When did the Spanish provinces in America 
become independent? What was the Holy Alliance? What is the 
Monroe Doctrine ? 

SEARCH QUESTIONS. 

What became of the Creek Indians ? On what occasions has the 
Monroe Doctrine been officially asserted by the United States? How 
does the American tonnage on the Great Lakes compare with the Ameri- 
can tonnage on the ocean ? 

SUGGESTIONS FOR LITERARY TREATMENT. 

Compositions : 

An account of the Seminole Indians. 
The boyhood of General Jackson. 

Debates : 

Besolved, That there would be less danger of war if nations had armies 
and navies no larger than are required for police service. 

Bosolvcd, That the Creek Indians were justified in fighting the Ameri- 
cans in 1814. 



CHAPTER XIV. 



INTERNAL DEVELOPMENT. 



Tar'iflf. A list of duties laid by 
government on goods imported 
into the country. A protective 
tariff is one which is laid for the 
purpose of protecting the indus- 
tries of the country from foreign 
competition, and of encouraging 
the liome production of similar 
goods. 



Appalachian (ap'pa-la'chi-an). 
The name applied to the moun- 
tain range of which the Alleghany 
Mountains are the principal 
members. 

Anthracite (an'thra-sit). Hard 
coal, such as is used in stoves. 



129. New Inventions At the close of the War of 1812, the 

people of the United States lived mainly by farming and trade ; 
the articles not made on the farm or in the house were bought 
in the stores, and the merchants obtained them from Europe. 
But life in a new country like the United States was different 
from what it was in Europe. The farmers, the lumbermen, the 
mechanics, often found in their work that the English manu- 
facturers did not understand just what Avas needed. Ameri- 
cans therefore were constantly contriving new machines and 
tools to do the work required.^ Besides this, there were fewer 
men to do any piece of work than in England. Whenever in 
the United States a machine could be contrived to do the work 
of twenty men, it was eagerly adopted because the twenty men 
were not to be had. There was not a multitude of laborers 
seeking employment, as in England. 

The Patent Office. — This was especially the case in farming. 
The broad fields of the West were very fruitful ; but the farmer 
who owned a great tract could not find men enough to help him 

1 The first step was to increase greatly the use of horse power. 
249 



250 DEVELOPMENT O^ THE UNION. 

cultivate the fields after tlie old fashion. He set his wits to 
work to invent machines which should do the work of men, 
should prepare the ground, sow the seed, and reap the crop. 
Since 1790, the government has granted patents to inventors. 
There were not many granted before the War of 1812, but after 
that the number increased rapidly. In 1836, the Patent Office 
was made a distinct bureau under the Secretary of State, and a 
Commissioner of Patents was appointed to be at its head. 

130. The Rise of Manufactures The great European con- 
flict had been the opportunity of American shipping, and even 
during the War of 1812 there had been great activity in com- 
merce. But when Europe was at peace, the carrying trade 
returned to the ships of Europe, and there was a great falling 
off in American shipping. Partly in consequence of this the 
energy and money which had gone into commerce, especially 
in New England, began to be turned into the channel of manu- 
facture. There were other causes at work. 

The AVar of 1812 shut the country off largely from European 
goods, and thus indirectly stimulated home manufacture. 
Then, not only did the war cost the government heavily, but 
the income from taxes upon imported goods fell off as com- 
merce declined. When peace came, and goods began to come 
in again Avith a rush. Congress increased the duties on these 
goods, enacting what is called a Protective Tariff. It did this 
for two reasons, — to secure greater revenues for the govern- 
ment, and to encourage the manufacture of a similar class of 
goods in this country. 

131. The Protective Tariff There was nothing new in the 

principle of the protective tariff. Hamilton had urged it at 
the beginning of the government, and it was the method used 
by all countries for the protection of their own industries. 
But the tariff of 1816 in the United States came at a time 
when it had a marked effect in the history of the people. If 
the United States could manufacture its own goods from its 
own products, and sell them to its own citizens, then one part 
of the country would help another, and the whole Union, would 



INTERNAL DEVELOPMENT. 



251 



prosper together. Thus the tariff fell into its place as one of 
the plans adopted by the country when it settled down to the 
work of possessing the land and improving it. 

132. Manufacturing Towns. — The few manufactories which 
had been started during the period when America was break- 
ing away from Europe now began to thrive, and new ones were 
established. This was especially true in New England, where 
the rivers which came 
down from the hill coun- 
try afforded good water 
power. The rise of man- 
ufacturing towns on the 
banks of these rivers 
changed the old New 
England life.^ It brought 
people together from dif- 
ferent places ; there was 
more travel. The yoiuig 
read more and talked 
more with one another; 
they had societies and 
saw one another more 
frequently ; they had 
magazines and papers 
for which they wrote. 
The American literature 
we now know so well 
had already been begun, 
for Bryant was writing his early poems. It does not at all 
follow that people stopped buying English and French goods ; 
but every year there was more business in making, buying, 
and selling American goods. As people grew richer, they con- 
tinued to get from England and France the better class of 




William Cullen Bryant. 
Born Nov. 3, 1794; died June 12, 1878. 



1 The time of the book is later than this, but A New England Girlhood, by 
Lucy Larcom, contains a most interesting and striking picture of life in 
Lowell, when the country girls were flocking to the manufacturing towns. 



252 DEVELOPMENT OF THE UNION. 

goods, while American manufacturers were constantly en- 
deavoring to make their own products better, and thus to get 
the trade of their countrymen. 

133. The United States Bank and Internal Improvements. — In 
order to aid the business men in their dealings with one an- 
otlier, Congress gave a new charter for twenty years to the 

United States Bank. • This act shows how the old 
party lines of Federalist and Anti-Federalist had dis- 
appeared, but there was a more significant mark of the disap- 
pearance of old divisions. Congress proposed that public 
money should be expended on internal improvements, in build- 
ing roads, improving navigation, and deepening harbors. This 
was in direct opposition to the early doctrine of the National 
Republican party, but Jefferson had made the new policy 
popular by using the public money for buying a vast tract of 
land when he accepted the Louisiana Purchase. During Mon- 
roe's administration more than a million dollars — a large sum 
in those days — was spent by government in building a na- 
tional road from Cumberland, in Maryland, to Wheeling, on 
the Ohio. 

134. The Erie Canal. — The people did not wait for the gen- 
eral government, and indeed there were many who thought 
government should not spend the public money in this way. 
Sometimes private companies and sometimes the State built 
roads and canals, on which tolls were paid by those who used 
them. The greatest of these public works is the Erie Canal, 
which owes its execution chiefly to the energetic governor of 
New York, De Witt Clinton. It was begun in 1817, and 
opened for traffic in 1825.^ It extends across the State from 
Lake Erie to the Hudson River, and is longer than any other 
canal in America or Europe. For many years the Erie Canal 
was the chief means by which the produce of the country 
bordering on the Great Lakes, and of the rich farms m the 

1 This was before the days of telegraphing, and the news of completion was 
communicated from Buffalo to New Yoi'k in eighty minutes by a succession 
of cannon discharges. 



IN TERN A L DE VEL 0PM EN T. 



253 



1818. 



Mohawk Valley, was carried to the sea. It was one of the 
great means by which the city of New York became the chief 
commercial city of the New World.^ 

135. Steamboats and Railroads In 1807 an American in- 
ventor, Robert Fulton, had constructed the first really success- 
ful steamboat. Its first trip up the Hudson River awakened 
great interest and showed clearly the possibility of steam navi- 
gation. This was be- 
fore the locomotive had 
been perfected, so that 
steam railroads were 
not yet in operation. 
Steamboats, however, 
were already beginning 
to ply on rivers and 
lakes. Just 
after the Erie 
Canal was begun, a 
steamboat was built 
which was the first to 
navigate Lake Erie. 
The next year a still 
more important step 
was taken. The steamer 
Savannah crossed the 
Atlantic, went as far as 
St. Petersburg, and re- 
turned. Six years later, when the Erie Canal was finished, 
the steamer Enterprise went from America to India ,o-iq 
by way of the Cape of Good Hope. Thus the begin- 
ning of steam navigation for America had been made. 

The Firfet Railroad. — A year after the Enterprise sailed for 
India, the first railroad in the United States was opened in 
Massachusetts, from the Quincy quarries to tide water. It was 

1 In 1882 the people of New York by a large majority voted to abolish all 
tolls on canals in the State. 




Robert Fulton. Born 1765 i died 1815. 



1825. 



254 



DEVELOPMENT OF^ THE UNION. 



only two miles long, and was used for hauling granite ; the cars 
were drawn by horses. It was the first use of rails m America. 
In 1830 the first passenger railway in America was opened. It 
extended westward from Baltimore about fifteen miles, and now 
forms a part of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. The cars 
were at first drawn by horses, but a locomotive was used the 
next year. Its first locomotive was built by Peter Cooper, who 
made later the generous and useful gift of the Cooper Union ^ 
to the city of jSIew York. Now began the construction of rail- 



=^#fi 






The First Passenger Locomotive built in the United States. 

roads in various directions ; in the next twenty years nearly 
ten thousand miles of road were built. This mileage has con- 
stantly been increased, until in 1900 there were in operation in 
the United States nearly one hundred and ninety thousand 
miles of railway. 

136. The great coal and iron regions lying in the Appalachian 
range began to yield their riches. Charcoal was" formerly 
used in smelting iron, but in 1820 the Pennsylvania iron 
workers began to make experiments in mixing anthracite 

1 A well-equipped building, the center of activity in educational work, with 
reading rooms, library, and a hall for great public meetings. 



INTERNAL DEVELOPMENT. 



2,^5 



coal with charcoal. When it was at last found that anthracite 
coal could be used alone, the manufacture of iron increased 
with great rapidity. The coal was close by the iron 



ore ; and both coal and iron were so near the Atlantic 



1838. 



seaboard that it cost little to get the product of mines to ports 
and then to ship it to points up and down tlie coast. 




A Western Emigrant Train, 

137. The Occupation of the West. — With every year the line 
of settlements was pushed farther westward. Along the great 
highways, and by trails across the prairies, one might see long 
emigrant trains. Covered wagons contained the family goods 
and carried the women and children; the men marched behind 
or rode on horseback ; they drove the sheep and cattle which 
they were taking to the new homes. These emigrants often 
formed large parties for better protection against Indians and 
wild beasts. They camped at night by streams of water when 



256 DEVELOPMENT OF, THE UNION. 

they could. They built their camp fires and kept guard all 
night, for they could hear the howling of wolves and some- 
times see Indians stealing toward them. As they moved on, 
they would meet men and wagons coming from the opposite 
direction. Already the great West was sending back produce 
and droves of cattle and pigs to the Eastern markets. 

New States. — The rapid growth of the Union may be seen 
from the fact that for six years after the close of the War of 
1812 a new State was added each year. Indiana was added in 
1816, Mississippi in 1817, Illinois in 1818, Alabama in 1819, 
Maine in 1820, and Missouri in 1821. When Indiana was 
admitted to the Union, the question which most deeply con- 
cerned the people of the territory was that of slavery.^ The 
decision made Indiana a free State, but from this time forward 
the slavery question was a great national question, and it be- 
comes necessary to stop a moment and consider what slavery 
in the United States meant. 

1 The story of the struggle in Indiana is well told in the volume of that 
name in American Comnionioealths series by J. P. Dunn, Jr. Mr. Dunn also re- 
counts the early history of the State. The territory occupied was first visited 
by La Salle in 1G79, and posts were established by the Freiich near Lafayette 
and at Vincennes. Colonel Clark carried onsome of his operations there, and 
the country was included in the Virginia and other acts of cession to the 
United States after the war for independence. It formed a part of the North- 
west Territory which was created in 1787. In 1800 Indiana territory was 
formed, consisting of the present States of Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, and 
part of Michigan, with Vincennes as the seat of government. Illinois terri- 
tory was set off from it in 1809. It was the scene of many fights with the 
Indians in its early history. 

QUESTIONS. 

What made the conditions of labor in the United States to differ from 
those in Europe ? What stimulated invention ? When was the patent 
office created ? What led to the investment of capital in manufactures ? 
What is a protective tariff ? What was the effect of the tariff of 1816 ? 
How did the rise of manufactures affect town life ? When was the 
United States Bank originally established, and when was its charter ex- 
tended ? What was the policy of the government respecting internal im- 
provements ? How did the political parties stand ou this matter ? What 



INTERNAL DEVELOPMENT. 257 

was the course of State action ? What is said of the Erie Canal ? When 
did Fulton make his experiments ? What was the early history of steam 
navigation in America ? Narrate the incidents connected with the be- 
ginning of railroads in America. Where were coal and iron first mined ? 
Describe the movement westward. Name in order the States added after 
the War of 1812. 

SEARCH QUESTIONS. 

What is the process by which a patent is secured ? What is the mean- 
ing of the term "A tariff for revenue, with incidental protection"? 
What is meant by free trade ? What are the conditions necessary for 
the admission of a State into the Union ? How is the President elected 
if there is no election by the electoral college ? 



SUGGESTIONS FOR LITERARY TREATMENT. 

Compositions : 

A description of Fulton's steamboat and its first journey. 

A description of a Western emigrant train. 

Life on a canal boat. 

Story of a tow boy. 

An account of Lafayette's visit to the United States in 1824. 

How a patent is secured on an invention. 

Debates: 

Resolved^ That the United States should maintain a protective tariff. 

Resolved^ That public improvements should be made by private enter- 
prise. 

Resolved^ That a machine which does the work of twenty men keeps 
twenty men out of work. 

Resolved^ That patents should not be granted to inventors. 



CHAPTER XV. 

THE SYSTEM OF SLAVERY. 

Compromise (k6m'pr5-mTz). An agreement between two parties in a 
dispute by which each gives up a part of what he demands. 

138. The North and the South The country occupied by the 

United States stretched from a region in the North, where 
there were long, cold winters and short summers, to a land in 
the South, where winter meant only a few weeks of rest 
between the gathering of one crop and the planting of the 
next. In the North were grass land, and wheat and corn 
fields ; in the South, tobacco, cotton, rice, and sugar plantations. 
The people who lived at the two extremes had come originally 
from the same English stock. But their ways of living ever 
since they had occupied the country were so different that 
now the people of the Southern States seemed to many trav- 
elers almost another people from those occupying the Northern 
States. This difference was owing chiefly to the fact that in 
the South the great body of laborers was composed of African 
slaves, owned and directed in their work by white men. Ex- 
cept in some of the mountain regions, the white man and the 
black rarely worked together.. Everywhere it was the black 
man or woman who did the work of the hand. 

139. The Growth of the System of Slavery. — In the early years 
of the Eepublic many of the wisest men in the South were 
eager to get rid of slavery. All but three of the thirteen 
States which had made the Confederation forbade the importa- 
tion of slaves. These three were North Carolina, South Caro- 
lina, and Georgia ; and these insisted, when the Constitution 
was framed, that the right to import slaves should continue 

258 



TiaE SYSTEM OF SLA VERT. ^59 

till 1808. Butr though it became illegal to import slaves from 
Africa or other countries, it was permitted to sell them from 
one State to another. 

All children born of slave mothers became slaves, and the 
property of the master of the mother. The more slaves a man 
had, the richer he was thought to be ; and the number of slaves 
in the country increased rapidly, especially after the invention 
of the cotton gin. Thus there came gradually a change in the 
opinion of the people of the South. A few had freed their 
slaves, and a few slaves had bought their freedom by working 
for others in the extra time which their masters gave them. 
But while Jefferson and many others had deplored the system 
of slavery, most of the people now accepted it as right and 
desirable. 

They were used to it. It freed them from the necessity of 
working with their hands. It gave them leisure to come and 
go among their friends. It gave them a sense of power; they 
were rulers over men ; they gave orders and were obeyed. 
They thought also that they were growing rich as they saw 
their gangs of slaves tilling the fields without wages. The 
masters cared for their slaves.^ They gave them clothing, and 
houses, and gardens in which to raise vegetables. They 
amused themselves with the little children, who grew up in 
play with their own families. They took care of them when 
they were sick and old. 

They encouraged the slaves also in going to church and 
religious meetings, and frequently gave them religious instruc- 
tion. But they carefully kept books and papers out of the 
hands of the blacks. They did not think it wise to give them 
schools. They treated them, so far as education went, like 
little children who were never to grow up. Why, they asked, 
should the negro learn to read and write and keep accounts ? 

1 A very interesting inside view of the relations subsisting between slaves 
and their masters will be found in Mrs. Smede's Memorials of a Southern 
Plcmter, though the time covered by it is later for the most part than that of 
which we are now treating. 



260 DEVELOPMENT OF THE UNION. 

He was not to be in business for himself ; he could not vote ; 
he could not testify in courts of law ; he was not a citizen of 
the State. To be most useful to his master, he must be con- 
tented. If he began to care for what his master and other 
freemen had, he might himself try to break away from slavery. 

For the most part, the slaves were an idle, easy-going people. 
They were affectionate and warmly attached to their masters 
and mistresses if these were kind to them. They had little 
thought of anything beyond eating and sleeping and playing. 
They had their holidays, and when Christmas came, they flocked 
to the great house to receive their presents. 

140. The Economical Aspect of Slavery — It was a mistake to 
think that the South was really prospering by means of slavery. 
A few planters were rich ; they had large estates and a great 
body of servants, but as a whole the country was not growing 
richer; everywhere there was waste. Instead of intelligent 
men working hard with their hands and their heads, improving 
the land, and getting larger crops to the acre, there was a race 
of ignorant laborers who worked as little as they could. They 
had nothing to gain by industry and economy. They laid by 
nothing, for they expected to be taken care of by their masters. 

The South did not see that it was becoming relatively poorer.^ 
It saw that it had more slaves every year, and must find a 
place for them. It perceived, also, that the North was in- 
creasing more rapidly in population ; the Northwest was filling 
up faster than the Southwest. It was to meet the original 
disproportion in free population that the Constitution provided 
(see Article 1, Section 2), that in apportioning the representa- 
tives the slaves should be counted as three fifths of the actual 
number.^ The non-slaveholding States were growing actually 
and relatively more powerful every year. 

1 Among the most instructive narratives respecting the agricultural and 
social conditions of the South are the several volumes of travel by Frederick 
Law Olmsted. His journeys, indeed, were made at a later period, but they 
record conditions which had long been fixed. 

2 It was James Madison who proposed this mode. He was a strong advocate 
of the principle that representation under the new government should be 



THE SYSTEM OF SLAVERY. 261 

141. The Relations between the South and the North as regards 
Slavery. — The increasing prosperity of the free States was a 
constant menace to the slave States, for it seemed to say that 
States where labor is free have an immense advantage over 
States where labor is enslaved. The South began to fear that, 
as time went on, the free States might control the Union, 
and then might even undertake to get rid of slavery. The 
States in which slavery existed were held together by this 
fact ; it gave them an interest in common which the other 
States had not. All were States of the Union, but the Southern 
States were also slave States. . They were ready to act together 
whenever the system which was so important to them seemed 
to be in danger. 

There always was danger. Although there was often a 
strong attachment between the slaves and their masters, the 
laws of the slave States showed how little the masters trusted 
their slaves. These laws were very stringent; the life as well 
as the liberty of the slave was in the power of the master. 
Many slaves ran away into the swamps of Florida, Virginia, 
and Alabama ; or they escaped to the free States, where they 
hid in cities or found friends among those who disliked slavery. 
When they were ill-treated, they would sometimes revenge 
themselves on their masters. More than once they attempted 
insurrection.^ 

The greatest danger to slavery was in the growing belief 
that slavery is wrong, and that the nation ought not to per- 
mit men and women to be owned by others, to be bought and 
sold, and to have no other rights than those which belong to 
horses and oxen. But slavery existed under the Constitution, 

based on population and not on States. There were two theories about the 
slaves, one that they were to be counted as persons, the other that they should 
be reckoned as property. The compromise proposed by Madison was intended 
to reconcile these theories in practice. It is not too much to say that without 
some such compromise the Constitution could not have been adopted. 

1 The most noted of these insurrections was that of Nat Turner in Virginia 
in 1831. Mrs. Stowe based on it her novel, Dred: A Tale of the Dismal 
Swamp. 



262 DEVELOPMENT OF THE UNION. 

and the States where it did not exist were not at first disposed 
to interfere. They said that slavery was an affair of the States 
in which it was found. For the most part, they were too busy 
with their growing industries to care about a matter which they 
said did not belong to them. 

Besides, the Northern States were now engaged in a great 
variety of enterprises, while the Southern States were still 
chiefly employed in the few agricultural industries of tobacco, 
cotton, rice, and sugar. The South thus looked to the North 
for clothing, tools, much of the food, and most of the luxuries 
of life. The merchants of the North found a great market in 
the South for the sale of their goods ; they did not want any- 
thing to disturb it, for they needed cotton from the South to 
keep their mills running. 

Families from the different sections intermarried. Visitors 
passed from South to North and from North to South. The 
churches had their members and associations in both parts of 
the country. So most people agreed to let slavery alone ; and 
many at the North persuaded themselves, and tried to persuade 
others, that it was not so bad a thing after all. 

142. The Missouri Compromise — When the Territories of 
the West applied for admission to the Union as States, those 
which were north of the Ohio River came in as free States. 
Not only were they settled largely by emigrants from the older 
free States, but the Ordinance of 1787 forever excluded slavery 
from the Northwest Territory; although, as we have seen, 
slave holders did get a footing there, in Indiana especially.^ 

1 It was not Indiana alone that was subject to dispute over the question of 
slavery. The contest was keen in Illinois. That State, which took its name 
from the French rendering of the name used by the tribe of Indians found 
there, was very early visited by the French. (See above, Introduction, 23). 
By the Treaty of Paris in 1763 the country of the Illinois was ceded by France 
to England. Virginia and Connecticut claimed the country under their patents, 
but yielded it with other lands to the United States, and it became a part of 
the Northwest Territory. When, in 1800, Ohio was set off, and the rest of the 
territory was created Indiana territory, Illinois was included, but in 1809 it 
was constituted a distinct territory. The State was rapidly populated, much 
impulse being given by the important lead mines near Galena. In the eager- 



THE SYSTEM OF SLAVERY. 263 

But when the Mississippi was crossed, and settlements began 
to be made in the great territory originally called Louisiana, 
the question arose whether the States made from it were to be 
slave or free. 

The first discussion was over the admission of the territory 
of Missouri as a State.^ It belonged to Congress to decide this 
question. Members from the free States said that Missouri 
should not come in except under laws which forbade slavery. 
They were opposed by the members from the slave States, and 
the debate occupied two sessions of Congress. At last an 
agreement was reached, called the Missouri Compromise. By 
this, slavery was to be permitted in Missouri, but was pro- 
hibited forever in all other territory west of the Mis- 

1 QOf) 

sissippi north of 06° 30', the southern boundary of 
Missouri. This result was largely brought about by Henry 
Clay, who was speaker of the House. One of the effects of 
the controversy had been to delay the admission of Maine, 

ness of new enterprises the State ran up a heavy debt, and in 1842 the gov- 
ernor, in a message to the Legislature, declared that the State liad not credit 
or money to buy a pound of candles. It was a time of great depression, but 
five years later the people showed their honesty, their courage, and their reso- 
lution by subjecting themselves to a heavy tax. The marvellous growth of 
its chief city Chicago is seen in the contrast exhibited by its twelve families 
clustered about Fort Dearborn in 1831 and the great exhibition of 18i)3. The 
State was the home of both Lincoln and Grant. 

1 The Missouri River, which gives its name to the State, is the Great Muddy 
River. It brings down so much mud from the Rocky Mountains, that after 
its junction with the clearer Mississippi the common stream becomes of a 
cofTee color. In 1673 Marquette and Joliet passed down the river bordering 
the country now occupied by the State. The country was at different times 
under French and Spanish authority. It was a part of the Louisiana pur- 
chase, and at first called the district of Louisiana, and then the territory of 
Louisiana. In 1812 the name was changed to the territory of Missouri. 
When St. Louis came into the possession of the LTnited States, in 1804, there 
were only two American inhabitants of the place, and less than a thousand 
persons in all, chiefly French and Spanish. In 1890 the iwpulation was over 
450,000. St. Louis was long the great center for trade with the Indians in the 
West, and traders and Indians flocked there from regions as remote as Oregon. 
Eads's great tubular steel bridge across the Mississippi, seven years building, 
was completed in 1874. For a history of Missouri see a volume by Lucien 
Carr in the American Commonwealths series. 



264 BEVELOPMENT OF THE UNION. 




John Quincy Adams. Born July 11, 1767 ) died Feb. 23, 1848. 

which wished to be set off from Massachusetts.-' The Southern 
members had refused to admit Maine until it should be agreed 

^ The name of Maine was early used for the mainland of that portion of 
New England. As early as 1607 an English settlement was made at the mouth 
of the Kennebec River. In the Introduction, 42, some account of the early 
occupation will be found. There was a dispute about the proper authority 
over the country, and in 1677 Massachusetts, to perfect her title, bought the 
right and claims to the territory from the heirs of Sir Ferdinando Gorges. In 
1783 the treaty of peace recognized Maine as a part of Massachusetts, and 
until it became a State it was known as the district of Maine. For a long 



THE SYSTEM OF SLAVERY. 265 

to admit Missouri as a slave State. The great debate showed 
clearly that the South was very much in earnest, and that it 
was united in defense of slavery. 

143. Administration of John Quincy Adams. — The debate 
over the admission of Missouri came in the administration 
of James Monroe. He was succeeded by John Quincy Adams, 
who had grown up in the service of government. When John 
Adams was sent as commissioner to France in 1778, he took 
his son, John Quincy Adams, with him, and even sent him as 
secretary of an embassy to Kussia when he was but fifteen 
years old. He was appointed minister successively to the 
Netherlands, to Portugal, and to Russia. He was a United 
States senator, and in 1814 he was one of the commissioners 
who negotiated the treaty of Ghent. Shortly a.fter he was 
made minister to Great Britain, and when Monroe became 
President he appointed John Quincy Adams Secretary of State. 
The election of 1824 was not decided by popular vote, and 
when Adams was chosen by the House of Representatives, he 
went into office under bitter opposition, and the measures 
which he proposed were generally defeated. A striking event 
occurred during his administration, when, on the 4th of July, 
1826, just fifty years after the Declaration of Independence, John 
Adams and Jefferson died within a few hours of each other. 

144. State Sovereignty. — The people of the slave States were 
strong supporters of the doctrine that the States were independ- 
ent of one another and of the Federal government ; that each 
was a sovereign State. The doctrine had been held from the 
beginning of the Union. It was felt that the power of the 
State was a protection against too great a power in the central 
government. This doctrine was used with special force by 
the people of the South, under the leadership of John C. 
Calhoun, of South Carolina. It was a safeguard for slavery, 
and was held so passionately that the State was put before 

time the exact line of separation from Canada was a subject of dispute, and 
in 1837-1839 there was a good deal of local disturbance known as the Aroos- 
took War. The difficulty was adjusted by treaty in 1842. 



266 



DEVELOPMENT OF THE UNION. 




John Caldwell Calhoun.* 

1 John Caldwell Calhoun, who had so powerful an influence in formulating 
Southern political doctrines, was born March 18, 1782, in Abbeville district, S.C 
He was of the same sturdy race as Jackson, but unlike Jackson he was a man 
of scholarly habits and cultivated tastes. He was graduated at Yale in 1806, 
and entered the House of Representatives in 1811. A man of great simplicity 
of manner, he was also very strict in character, and possessed of a remarkably 
logical and analytical mind. He had a genius for organization, and as Secre- 
tary of War under Monroe he left a strong impress on the department, which 
remains much as he organized it. He was elected Vice-President in 1824, but 
resigned to become senator from his State in 1832, when he led the forces of 
State sovereignty. He died in Washington, March 31, 1850. Dr. Von Hoist 
has traced his career in one of the volumes of American Statesmen. 



THE SYSTEM OF SLAVERY. 267 

the Union. " I am a Georgian," one would say, or "I am a 
South Carolinian," before he would say " I am an American." 

The Union and a State came into sharp opposition in the 
case of the half-civilized Indians still remaining in Georgia. 
The State wished to get rid of them and take possession of 
their lands. But they held these lands under treaty with the 
United States, and appealed to the general government. John 
Quincy Adams was President, and attempted to maintain the 
rights of the Indians. The governor of Georgia called out the 
State troops to resist the United States troops ; Congress, with 
whom Adams was very unpopular, took sides with Georgia. 
The State prevailed, and the doctrine of State Sovereignty was 
more firmly held than ever. 

QUESTIONS. 

What was the difference in life between the North and South ? To 
what was the difference mainly due ? How did the founders of the Union 
regard slavery ? What action was early taken regarding the trade in 
slaves? Describe the general condition of slaves and their masters. 
What was the effect of slavery on wealth ? How were slaves counted in 
the representation ? How did slavery affect the slave States in their rela- 
tion to each other ? How did tlie North look upon slavery ? What part 
did slavery play in the admission of new States ? Explain the Missouri 
Compromise. Narrate the career of John Quincy Adams. What effect 
did the doctrine of State sovereignty have in the South ? How did it 
operate in the case of the Georgia Indians ? 

SEARCH QUESTIONS. 

What were some of Jefferson's expressions about slavery ? What 
special legislation indicated the attitude taken by the founders of the 
Union toward slavery ? When did Lafayette revisit this country ? 

SUGGESTIONS FOR LITERARY TREATMENT. 

Compositions : 

The adventures of a slave escaping to the Dismal Swamp. 
A possum hunt. 

Derate : 

Eesolved, That the compromise by which the slaves were counted on 
the three-fifths ratio was a sound piece of politics. 



CHAPTER XVI. 

ADMINISTRATION OF ANDREW JACKSON. 

Null. Of no force in law. Void. Empty. JVall and void is a legal term. 

145. The election of Andrew Jackson to the Presidency in 1829 
was the sign of a change which had come over the American 
people. They had come to believe in themselves and to hold 
fast by the doctrine, that the will of the majority is law. 
Not only in politics, but in church life and in business, this 
principle was firmly established and put in practice. Further- 
more, the cheapness of land and the ease with which one could 
change his home and his occupation, if he was not satisfied, led. 
to constant movement and activity. There was nothing to pre- 
vent one with industry and energy from making his way and 
bettering his condition. Even money was not greatly needed, 
since those who had it lent it to those who had it not, in confi- 
dence that the borrower would quickly make it earn good 
interest. All this not only gave courage and self-reliance, so 
that the common phrase was " Every man is as good as his 
neighbor," but it gave the whole people a hearty belief in the 
Union. 

Causes of Jackson's Popularity. — In Europe one class of men 
was looked up to as having a right to govern. It was only 
gradually that this idea faded out in America, where every 
freeman had a vote. It faded out most quickly in the newer 
parts of the country, where, from necessity, all were very 
much on the same footing. Heretofore the Presidents had 
been taken from a class of men who had been trained in the 
study of government, both at home and abroad. Now came 
Andrew Jackson, Avho had grown up on the frontier. He had 

268 



ADMINISTRATION OF ANDREW JACKSON. 269 

been known chiefly as a brave man who had defeated the Brit- 
ish at New Orleans and had carried on successful campaigns 
against the Indians. He was a man of strong will, who loved 
his friends and hated his enemies. He was greatly admired 
by the people, because, unlike most public men, he seemed not 
to belong to a separate class, but to be one of themselves. 

146. The Two Great Parties. — The party which followed 
Jackson's lead was called the Democratic party. The name 
was intended to declare that it was the party of the people. 
It maintained that the people should everywhere manage their 
own affairs, and that the general government should interfere 
as little as possible. Opposed to it, under the leadership of 
Henry Clay,^ was the National-Republican party, later called 
the Whig party ,^ which maintained that the general govern- 
ment should have more to do with managing the affairs of the 

1 Clay's name has already appeared. He was born in Hanover County, Va., 
April 12, 1777. He lost his father early, and was thrown on his own resources. 
He began his self-support in a Richmond store, but he was too intellectual in 
his tastes to remain in this position, and he began the study of law in Hix;; 
the next year he moved to Lexington, Ky., where his captivating manner and 
his brilliant parts at once made him a favorite and gave him prominence. He 
threw himself into politics, and advocated a constitutional provision for the 
gradual abolition of slavery in the State. He was twice United States sena- 
tor, but in 1811 he went to the House of Representatives, and was at once 
chosen speaker. It was largely his leadership that forced the reluctant Mad- 
ison administration into declaring war with Great Britain, and Clay gave 
vigorous support to the administration throughout. He was one of the com- 
missioners at Ghent. He was more than once a candidate for the Presidency. 
He was one of the greatest of American orators, a splendid party chief, and 
an ardent lover of his country. He is identified with the great compromises, 
but he advocated them because he was a passionate lover of the Union, and 
would preserve it at any cost short of dishonor. A famous saying of his was, 
" I would rather be right than President." He died in Washington, June 29, 
1852. See a very interesting life by Carl Schurz in American Statesmen series. 

2 Before the war of independence, the title of Whigs was loosely applied to 
those who opposed parliamentary and royal authority, in opposition to the 
Tories, who were supporters of the crown and Parliament. The names were 
drawn from English political history. The term "Tories" had disappeared' 
from American politics, for it had been rendered especially obnoxious by its 
association with the opponents of the R-^volution. The term "Whigs" was 
now revived by those who saw in Clay and his party the supporters of con- 
gressional authority against a too powerful executive. 



270 



DEVELOPMENT OF THE UNION. 



whole country. It was in favor of a protective tariff, and of 
internal improvements at national expense;^ it was in favor 




Henry Clay. 

1 The question whether the general government or State governments should 
carry on internal improvements had largely been confined heretofore to the 
matter of canals and great highways. The attention from this time given to 
the construction of railroads, which superseded canals and highways, and 
were private enterprises carried on under State laws, made the old debate 
steadily of less importance, and when, after the war for the Union, internal 
improvements were carried on upon a vast scale, the question had ceased to 
be one of constitutional opinion, dividing parties. 



ADMINISTRATION OF ANDREW JACKSON, 271 

also of a United States Bank, with branches, to be char- 
tered by the government, instead of a multitude of local 
banks. 

147. Party Government. — There had been parties before, as 
we have seen, but from this time forward for many years, the 
system of government was party government. That is, not 
only did the people divide usually into two great parties on 
national questions, but they kept the same division in State 
and even in city and town questions. The discipline of party 
organization seemed to demand this. When a party came into 
power, it made a clean sweep of the offices, turned out the men 
of the opposite party who had held them, and put in men of 
their own party. 

Jackson introduced this method of what was long called 
practical politics. He treated the offices as rewards for those 
who had worked for him.^ It is estimated that when Congress 
first met after Jackson came into power, a thousand removals 
from office had taken place against about a hundred and fifty 
all told in previous administrations. Party government had 
already become common in the States, especially in New York ; 
but from this time forward it was the rule throughout the 
country, and a class of men came into existence who made 
their living out of politics. Jackson was an imperious man, 
and his rule, unlike that of previous Presidents, was without 
much regard to his Cabinet. He was much influenced by a 
small group of his immediate friends, and it was they indeed 
who largely determined the changes in office. 

148. Webster and Hayne. — Jackson had a powerful party 
behind him, and there were many in it who pushed to an ex- 
treme the doctrine of State sovereignty. The question whether 
the Constitution intended a Union superior to the States, or a 
compact between States where each was supreme, was debated 
in the United States Senate in 1830. Robert Young Hayne, 
of South Carolina, defended the State-sovereignty doctrine, and 

1 The system has been called the Spoils System, from the remark made by a 
prominent politician that " to the victors belong the spoils." 



272 DEVELOPMENT OF' THE UNION. 

Daniel Webster/ of Massachusetts, the doctrine of the suprem- 
acy of the Union. In the debate Webster earned the reputa- 
tion of being the ablest constitutional defender of the Union. 
The closing words of one of his speeches, " Liberty and Union, 
now and forever, one and inseparable," became a watchword.^ 

149. Nullification. — The Southern States had at first favored 
a protective tariff, because it had made a new market for 
cotton, where it would not be taxed. The Northern States, tak- 
ing advantage of the tariff, had turned their energies to manu- 
facturing. The tariff, by successive acts, had been made to 
cover a great many articles. The North was thus growing 
rich, but the South seemed to be gaining nothing. The great 
articles of export, cotton and tobacco, went from the South; 
it was by selling these that the country was able to buy goods 
from Europe. But when these goods came, a heavy tax was 
laid on them, and thus they had to be sold at a high price. 
The South said : " If the tariff be made lower, these goods 
which our tobacco and cotton have bought in England, will 
not cost us so much." The North objected: "Yes. But the 

1 Daniel Webster was born in Salisbury, now Franklin, N.H., January 18, 
1782. He was educated first at Pliillips Academy, Exeter, and afterward at 
Dartmouth College. He was so shy a youth that he could not be induced to 
speak a piece in school, but by the time he had left college he had overcome 
his shyness, and was noted as a debater. He was admitted to the bar in 1805, 
and practiced first in Portsmouth, N.H. He was a member of Congress in 
1813, and was opposed to the war, though he did not go the length of the New 
England Federalists. In 1816 he removed to Boston, where he became famous 
as a lawyer. He took part in revising the constitution of Massachusetts, and 
was sent again to Congress in 1822. He had already become noted as an 
orator. His speech on the second centennial of the landing of the Pilgrims 
brought him great fame, and later his address at Bunker Hill, in 1825, added 
to his distinction. He was United States senator and Secretary of State under 
Harrison, and again under Fillmore. His public services are further referred 
to in the text. He made a powerful impression on his contemporaries by the 
weight of his presence and speech. Carlyle called him a steam-engine in 
boots. He died at his country home in Marshfield, Mass., October 24, 1852. 
The latest and best account of him is that by Senator Lodge, in the American 
Statesnxeii series. 

2 The speeches of Webster and Hayne well repay reading, not only as a dis- 
cussion of a fundamental public question, but also for their rhetorical power. 



ADMINISTRATION OF ANDREW JACKSON. 273 




Daniel Webster. 



foreign goods will be so cheap that it will be impossible for us 
to manufacture and sell them at the same or a lower price, 
and all our manufactories will have to stop.'' 



274 DEVELOPMENT OR THE UNIOH^. 

At last the State of South Carolina declared that the tariff 
had become so oppressive to her citizens that it could no longer 
be borne. A convention was called in November, 1832, which 
passed an ordinance declaring the tariff acts to be null and 
void so far as South Carolina was concerned. The convention 
threatened that if the Federal government should attempt to 
enforce the tariff acts, South Carolina, as a free and independ- 
ent State, would withdraw from the Union. Nullihcation 
was the name given to the act by which the State declared 
certain laws to have no force in her territory. Mr. Calhoun 
and his followers maintained that the State could refuse to 
obey laws made by Congress, when those laws were injurious 
to her, and that the Federal government could not force her 
to obey. But people saw instinctively that force might be 
used ; hence all over the State, military companies were formed, 
and preparations for resistance were made. 

Clay's Compromise Tariff. — Though President Jackson be- 
lieved that the States should manage their own affairs, he 
believed also that when laws were passed in Congress for the 
whole country, no one State had a right to refuse to obey those 
laws. He told South Carolina at once that, if she resisted, the 
whole force of the Union would be used against her. For a 
while it looked as if there would be fighting. But Clay, who 
was the leader of the protectionists, came forward and proposed 
a compromise by w^hich the tariff was modified. South Carolina 
had won her point. The doctrine of Nullification had not been 
put to the test of arms ; but the doctrine of State sovereignty 
had established itself still more firmly in the South. 

150. The Bank of the United States and the State Banks. — The 
charter of the Bank of the United States was to expire in 1836. 
Jackson had shown hostility to the bank when he first came 
into office. Like Jefferson he regarded it as unconstitutional, 
and he looked upon it as a political machine in the hands of 
his enemies. He attacked it as a moneyed power which might, 
if not checked, become a menace to the liberty of the people. 
He threw all his personal influence, which largely controlled 



ADMINISTRATION OF ANDREW JACKSON. 



275 



his party, against the bill to recharter the bank and stopped 
the further deposit of Federal money in the bank, distributing 
it instead among certain State banks. As a result, the bank 
failed to secure a renewal of its charter, and a great impetus 
was given to State banks all over the country. 

151. Inflation. — It was a period when there was the appear- 
ance of the greatest prosperity. Not only was the national 
debt paid off, but there 
was for a short time a 
surplus in the public 
treasury. Every one 
expected to be rich at 
once ; railroads were 
built and canals were 
dug before there was 
business enough to war- 
rant them ; more goods 
were imported from Eu- 
rope than were needed ; 
everybody fell to spec- 
ulating, and there was 
a rush to buy Western 
lands. 

But the money paid 
for the lands was the 
paper of the banks, 
and the banks had is- 
sued their paper far beyond their power to redeem it. Jack- 
son, who was quick in perception, courageous and prompt, 
issued what is known as the specie circular. He did wdiat Con- 
gress had refused to do : he made the regulation that nothing 
but gold and silver should be received for the sale of public 
lands. This caused a demand for specie at the banks where 
gold and silver were deposited, and soon the banks all over the 
country began to give way. There was a crash, and the year 
1837 was long remembered as a year of bankruptcy and ruin. 




Martin Van Buren. 



27S DEVELOPMENT OF THE UNION. 

152. Van Buren's Administration. — When Jackson's second 

term was ended, Martin Van Buren ^ of New York was elected 

President; he carried out Jackson's policy, and was justly 

considered his successor. both in name and fact. "During his 

administration, the separation of the government from 
1840 

banking was rendered complete by the establishment 

of the subtreasury system, by which branches of the national 

treasury were established in important trade centers. 

1 Martin Vau Buren was born at Kinderhook, N.Y., December 5, 1782. He 
was a lawyer, and in his early career a zealous adherent of Jefferson. He had 
a genius for political organization, and, after filling other offices, he was 
elected United States senator in 1821, and governor of New York in 1828. 
He was Jackson's Secretary of State. He lived a long life, but the latter 
part was spent in private affairs. He died at Kinderhook, July 24, 1862. 

QUESTIONS. 

When was Andrew Jackson inaugurated ? How many years was he 
President ? What change in the temper of people did the election sig- 
nify ? Define the two parties prominent in Jackson's administration. 
What was the Webster-Hayne debate ? What effect on the two parts of 
the country did the protective tariff have ? What action did Soutli Caro- 
lina take ? What is nullification ? What stand did Jackson take ? What 
was the action of Jackson in the case of the Bank of the United States ? 
What effect did his course have on the State banks ? What was the con- 
dition of the country afterw^ards ? What was the nature of Van Buren's 
administration ? What important act took place in it ? 

SEARCH QUESTIONS. 

What was the occasion of the Webster-Hayne debate ? What was the 
Whig party in English politics ? Was there any difference between the 
position taken by tlie advocates of nullification in South Carolina and 
that taken by the Federalists in New England during the War of 1812 ? 

SUGGESTIONS FOR LITERARY TREATMENT. 
Composition : 

A comparison of the training of John Quincy Adams and Andrew 
Jackson for the Presidency. 
Debate : 

Resolved, That Federal elections and city or town elections should not 
be held on the same day. 




MEXICO 

TO ILLUSTRATE THE WAR 1846-8 ^ 

Scale of Statute Miles 

100 200 300 400 500 



^ ..r 



CAMPAIGN OF GEN. SCOTT 

Scale of 50 Miles 




CHAPTER XVII. 



TEXAS AND THE MEXICAN WAR. 



Rio Grande (re'6 gran'da). 

Houston (hu'ston). 

Corpus Cristi (kor'pus kris'te) = 

Christ's Body. 
Nueces (nwa'ses). 
Palo Alto (pa'lo al'to). 
Resaca de la Palma (ra-sa'ka da- 

la-pal'ma). 
Kearney (kar'ni). 
Santa Fe (san'ta fa)= Holy Faith. 
Fremont (fre-monf). 
Monterey (mon-te-ra'). 



Buena Vista (bwa'na ves'ta)= Fair 

View. 
Cerro Gordo (ser'ro gor'do) 
Jalapa (ha-la'pa). 
Puebla (pweb'la). 
Contreras (kon-tra'ras). 
Churubusco (choo-roo-boos'ko). 
Molino del Rey (mo-le'no del ra) 

= King's Mill. 
Chapultepec (cha-pool'ta-pek). 
Gila (he 'la). 
Mesilla (me-sel'ya). 



153. Relative Expansion of North and South. — Since Missouri, 
two other States had been admitted to the Union, — Arkansas ' 
in 1836, and Michigan ^ in 1837. Half of the States were now 

1 Arkansas was carved out of the great Louisiana, purchased in 1803, and 
took its name from the river so called by the Indians. There is doubtless 
some connection with the word Kansas, The name was pronounced some- 
times Arkan'sas, sometimes Ar'kansaw; and there is a story of a very punc- 
tilious speaker of the House who followed carefully the divided pronunciation 
of two members, and never failed to recognize appropriately "the member 
from Arkan'sas," and " the member from Ar'kansaw." In 1881 a resolution 
of the State Senate declared the true pronunciation to be Ar'kansaw. "When 
the State of Louisiana was formed in 1819, Arkansas became a portion of the 
new Missouri territory, until it was itself erected into a State. 

2 The early footfall of the white man in Michigan may be found in Section 
23 of the Introduction. In 1670 La Salle visited the lake, and for a long time 
Michilimackinac was a center of Jesuit missions and Indian trade. In 1701 
a military colony was planted at Detroit, and in 1760 the post came into the 
hands of the English. It was here that Pontiac laid his siege in 1763. By the 
treaty of 1783 the country passed to the United States, but it was not occupied 
as a portion of the Northwest Territory till 1796, and was maae in 1805 a 

277 



278 DEVELOPMENT OF THE UNION. 

free States, and half slave ; but in population the free States 
were gaining more rapidly than the slave States. In 1830 the 
excess of population in the free States was more than a million ; 
in 1840 it was nearly two and a half millions. Moreover, after 
the admission of Arkansas, Florida was the only territory 
which could be admitted as a slave State. To the north and 
northwest of the line of 36° 30' lay an apparently boundless 
country, out of which free States could be formed. It was in 
this direction that the population of the country was moving. 

Southern statesmen saw very clearly that by the natural 
growth of the country the free States would soon far exceed 
the slave States in territory, population, wealth, and political 
power. They saw that in order to maintain the relative im- 
portance of their section they must in some way enlarge the 
territory which they might occupy, and they looked for this to 
the great country of Texas. It lay south of 36° 30', was suited 
to slavery, and was already occupied by many Southerners. 

Texas was originally a part of the Spanish province of Mex- 
ico. When the United States bought Louisiana of France, there 
was a dispute with Spain whether the boundary of that province 
was the Sabine River or the Rio Grande. When, sixteen years 
later, the United States bought Florida of Spain, it was a part 
of the agreement that the line between Louisiana and Mexico 
should be the Sabine River. 

154. The Independence of Texas. — In 1821 Mexico revolted 
from Spain, and formed a republic modeled after the United 
States. Like other Spanish states in America, it abolished 
slavery. The South thus had for its neighbor a free country 
hemming it in on the south and southwest. President John 
Quincy Adams and President Jackson each made the attempt 
to buy Texas of Mexico ; but Mexico refused to sell. Mean- 
while, emigration from the Southwestern States had set in, 
and many Americans had made their home in Texas. 

territory by itself. The State early formed an important system of public 
education, crowned by the University of Michigan. An excellent account of 
the State is that by T. M. Cooley, at one time its chief justice. 



TEXAS AND THE MEXICAN WAR. 271) 

The most noted of them was General Sam Houston ^ of Ten- 
nessee, who was the leader of an adventurous body of men. At 
his instigation Texas, in 1835, declared her independence of 
Mexico, and set up a government of her own, with Houston 
at the head. Texas then applied for annexation to the Union. 
The importance of such an addition was seen at once. Out of 
this vast territory five States could be formed. If slave 
States, they would greatly strengthen the slavery party. The 
Whigs, under Webster and Clay, opposed annexation. They 
said that to annex Texas was to go to war with Mexico ; for 
Mexico had not acknowledged the independence of Texas. 

155. Rise of the Abolitionists. — The question of the annexa- 
tion of Texas was a political one, but it was discussed upon 
the ground of its relation to slavery, for the maintenance and 
extension of slavery was rapidly becoming the one great politi- 
cal subject. It was also taken up as a moral question. In 
1833, the National Antislavery Society was formed. It repre- 
sented the convictions of many at the North, and these con- 
victions were largely formed through the influence of one man. 

William Lloyd Garrison,^ of Massachusetts, — a poor man, 

1 Houston was a most picturesque character, and the reader will find it 
well worth his while to read a narrative of his life. One of the latest and 
most careful is that by Alfred M. "Williams. The facts of his life are often 
obscure. He was born in Rockbrid,2:e County, Va., March 2, 1793. He was 
of Scotch-Irish descent, and lived much among the Indians ; being, indeed, 
adopted by one of them. When he made a trip to Washington, in 1832, in the 
interest of some Indian tribes, he wore the Indian dress. He lived till July 25, 
1863, Avhen he died in Huntsville, AValker County, Texas. He was a strong 
Unionist until Texas passed the act of secession, when he followed his State. 

2 Garrison was born in Newburyport, December 10, 1805, of parents who 
had just removed thither from Nova Scotia. His boyhood was one of hard- 
ship, and after other experiments he was apjirenticed to the printer of the 
Neiohuryport Herald. At the close of his apprenticeship he established the 
Free Press in the same town, and used, then as well as later, to set up his 
editorials in type without first writing them out. He had the pleasure of 
encouraging a young Quaker lad named Whittier by printing his early verses. 
In 18'29 he went to Baltimore, where he advocated the doctrine of immediate 
emancipation, and, for his outspoken attacks on slavery, was sent to i^''. 
In 1831 he established The Liberator newspaper in Boston. He was mobbed, 
and at one time was dragged through the streets of Boston with a halter 



280 



DEVELOPMENT OF THE UNION, 



1831. 



who had been bred a printer, — established a weekly news- 
paper, called The Liberator. It was devoted to the entire and 
immediate abolition of African slavery in America. 
For his part, he did not think the Union worth pre- 
serving if it protected the slave system. He took the ground 
that for a man to hold slaves at all is a sin. He was not the 
first to say this, but his openness of speech and his persistence 

made him and his paper 
con spicuous. Others, 
men and women, came 
forward to support him, 
^ -^——^^ "0-—^^^— ^^^^ *^® name of "abo- 

^^f^f^^^P^J- -' ^S^^^m litionists" was given 

They did not as yet 
constitute a political 
party, but they kept up 
an incessant attack upon 

^ .^^^^^^m^^^^^^^^S^^ '^^^ ^^'i^ ^f slavery. They 

were persecuted ; their 
books and papers were 
destroyed; but every at- 
tempt to stop them only 
gave a new opportunity 
for the discussion of the 
rights and wrongs of 
slavery. The slavehold- 
ers and their friends at the North declared that the abolition- 
ists were destroying the peace of the country. They charged 




William Henry Harrison. 



about his body. But he never flinched. When he began the publication of 
The Liberator he wrote : " I am in earnest — I will not equivocate — I will not 
excuse — I will not retreat a single inch — and I will be heard." These 
words are cut into the pedestal which bears his statue in Commonwealth 
Avenue, Boston. He lived to see the accomplishment of the great reform 
he had agitated, and died in New York, May 24, 1879. His life has been writ- 
ten as an historical work by his children. There is a briefer one by Oliver 
Johnson. 



TEXAS AND THE MEXICAN WAB. 281 

them with inciting the slaves to insurrection, and they called 
upon friends of the Union to put them down. 

In Congress, rules were made to prevent the introduction 
of any matter hostile to slavery. Members tried to exclude 
petitions for the abolition of slavery in the District of Columbia 
and in the Territories over which Congress had control. They 
took the ground that 
slavery was a matter 
which could not be 
touched by Congress. 
The right of petition 
has been a right held 
sacred by the people ; 
and a champion for this 
right appeared in Ex- 
President John Quincy 
Adams, who had been 
sent back to Washing- 
ton as representative 
in Congress from his 
district in Massachu- 
setts. He presented 
these petitions again 
and again. The slavery 

party refused to admit 

Tu A ^u John Tyler, 

them ; and the conse- 
quence was that multitudes of people at the North were gained 
over to the antislavery side. 

156. Presidential Elections of 1840 and 1844. — When the 
election of 1840 occurred, the growing dissatisfaction with 
the Democratic party led to the election of the Whig candi- 
date, William Henry Harrison^ of Ohio. He died a month 
to a day after he entered office, and the Vice President, John 

1 We have already met Harrison in the Indian fights of the Northwest. He 
was the youngest son of Benjamin Harrison, one of the signers of the Declara- 
tion of Independence, and the grandfather of that other Benjamin Harrison who 




282 



DEVELOPMENT OF*THE UNION. 




Tyler/ of Virginia, be- 
came President. The 
question of annexation 
was hotly discussed in 
the Presidential election 
of 1844. Van Buren, 
who had opposed the 
annexation of Texas, 
was rejected by the 
Democratic party, and 
James Knox Polk, of 
Tennessee^ who favored 
annexation, was nomi- 
nated. Henry Clay was 
nominated by the 
Whigs. A bitter con- 

,^^ test followed. 
1841 ,pi ,. , 

The anti slav- 
ery men, at first inclined 
to follow Clay, left him at the last moment, when he came out 
in favor of annexation, and they voted for a third candidate. 

was twenty-third President. He was born in Berkeley, Charles City Co., Va., 
February 9, 1773. He was educated at Hampden Sidney College, and began 
the study of inedicine, but the Indian troubles of 1798 drew him into the army, 
against the wishes of Robert Morris, who was his guardian, but with the 
approval of Washington, who was a friend of his father. He came finally to 
live at North Bend, Ind,, and the house in which he lived still retained at 
one end a log cabin built by one of the early settlers. When he was nomi- 
nated for the Presidency, some enthusiastic person called attention to the 
republican simplicity of his living, and made much of the fact that he had 
hard cider instead of wine on his table. The cry of log cabin and hard cider 
was taken up as a campaign cry, and in the political meetings and processions 
pictures and models of a log cabin played a conspicuous part. 

1 John Tyler was born at Greenway, Charles City Co., Va., March 29, 1790. 
He was graduated at William, and Mary College in 1807, and took up the 
practice of law. He served for a brief period in the House of Representatives 
in 1816, was for a while chancellor of William and Mary College, and in 1825 
was elected governor of tlie State. The next year he was sent to the Senate. 
He was a Democrat, but was hostile to Jackson, and was nominated on the 
ticket with Harrison, with the expectation that he would draw after him the 



James Knox Polk, 



TEXAS AND THE MEXICAN WAR. 283 

157. Annexation of Texas. — Polk ^ was elected, and Texas 
was annexed by resolution of Congress. Two States were 
now admitted into the Union, — Florida in March, 1845, and 
Texas in December of the same year. In spite of the strong 
opposition to the annexation by the antislavery party, there 
was a general feeling of pride that the country had acquired 
so large an addition. Politicians in favor of annexation did 
their best to draw men's minds away from the question of 
slavery, and to persuade them to think only of the splendid 
prospects of the United States. They began to say that it 
was the "manifest destiny" of the nation to possess the whole 
continent. 

Texas had been annexed and made a State, but Mexico had 
never recognized the independence of Texas, and naturally 
resented this action of the United States. The republic of 
Mexico had little strength or union. It was composed of a 
population partly pure Indian, partly pure Spanish, and partly 
of both races mingled by marriage. The people had had very 
little training in self-government. The different states were 
jealous of one another, and the chief power was held by what- 
ever military leader could command the largest force. But 
the Mexicans were a spirited people and prepared to fight. 
They refused to listen to an envoy sent by President Polk with 
offers to buy more of their territory. 

malcontents among the Democrats. But when he became President, his politi- 
cal principles made him obnoxious to the Whigs. He died in Richmond, Va., 
January 18, 1862. 

^ James Knox Polk was born in Mecklenburg Co., N.C., November 2, 1795. 
Like several of the Presidents he traced his descent directly from the sturdy 
Scotch-Irish element which appears in the early history of the Eastern coast. 
His father, wlio was a farmer, followed the course so often taken, and moved 
with his young family into Tennessee. In 1818 the future President graduated 
with honor from the University of North Carolina. He studied law, and was 
immediately successful at the bar. He was sent to Congress from 1825 to 1839, 
when he was chosen governor of Tennessee. During his Congressional career 
he was for four years speaker of the House, and ardently supported in turn 
Jackson and Van Buren. He favored the annexation of Texas, and won 
the Presidency in a contest with Henry Clay. He died in Nashville, Tenn., 
June 15, 1849. 



284 



DEVELOPMENT OF THE UNION. 



158. Taylor's Movements in Mexico General Zachary Taylor 

with the greater part of the United States army, then number- 
ing not more than five thousand men, was stationed in the 
neighborhood of Corpus Christi, in Texas. The town stood at 
the mouth of the Nueces River, which the Mexicans asserted 
was the boundary of Texas. The Texans claimed the Rio 
Grande as the boundary, and Taylor moved his army to the 
banks of that river. A Mexican force in the neighborhood 

attempted to intercept his movements and captured 
^^.A ' a few Americans. As soon as this news reached 

Washington, Polk sent a message to Congress assert- 
ing that war existed by the act of Mexico, and Congress de- 
clared war. Meanwhile Taylor, before he could hear of this, 
fought the battles of Palo Alto and Resaca de la Palma, in 
which the Mexicans were defeated. 




-^iSaltillo 
"^Ayua ^ ueva 



§ ^ ^ 



CAMPAIGN OF GEN. TAYLOR (// ^ . 

Scale of c =,>,^.-i„. i(/:| /^ 



159. Kearney and Fremont. — Soon after the declaration of 

war. Colonel Stephen W. Kearney led an expedition from Fort 

Leavenworth into New Mexico for the purpose of separating 

that province from Mexico. He reached Santa Fe, and 

Iftkfi ' *°^^^ possession of the country in the name of the 
United States. He declared New Mexico a territory 
of the Union and appointed a governor. Leaving some troops 
there, he pushed on to California with the same design. But 
he was anticipated by Captain John C. Fremont, who had been 
sent before the war on an exploring expedition. As soon as 
Fremont heard that war had been declared, he joined forces 



TEXAS AND THE MEXICAN WAR. 285 

with sailors and marines from vessels of the navy that were on 
the Pacific coast, and marched through the country to 
Monterey, the capital of the province. A number toar ' 
of American settlers were there, who proceeded to 
declare the independence of California and organize a govern- 
ment. 

160. Scott's Campaign. — Meanwhile General Taylor was mov- 
ing up the Eio Grande, and after a siege captured 
Monterey in Mexico. He was moving upon the city %'ar ' 
of Mexico, and at the same time General Winfield 
Scott, who was in command of all the American forces, was to 
take the shorter, more direct route from Vera Cruz on the sea- 
coast. Scott ordered Taylor to send him ten thousand men. 
This weakened Taylor's army, and Santa Anna, the President 
of the Mexican Republic, and general of its army, 
attacked Taylor at Buena Vista. A desperate battle -|^f^^„ ' 
was fought. The Americans remained in possession 
of the field ; the Mexicans withdrew and hurried to attack 
Scott, who was expected at Vera Cruz. 

Scott landed, took Vera Cruz by siege, and marched toward 
Mexico, taking the same route that Cortez had fol- 
lowed more than three hundred years before. At fo^.y ' 
Cerro Gordo, fifty miles northwest of Vera Cruz, he 
found the Mexicans intrenched. He stormed the position and 
carried it. Santa Anna retreated toward Jalapa. Scott fol- 
lowed him, took the place, and advanced to Puebla, 
where he lay till early in August, waiting for reen- yg^^ ' 
forcements. On the tenth of August the leading 
division of the army caught sight of the city of Mexico from 
the heights overlooking it. 

When Cortez conquered Mexico the city was in the midst of 
a great lake. Since that time the Spaniards had drained the 
country about the city into three lakes. The city was ap- 
proached by causeways crossing marshy land, and each cause- 
way was defended by fortified rocky hills. It was at these 
points that the Mexicans made their final stand. The first 



286 DEVELOPMENT OF* THE UNION. 

attack by the Americans was made on August 20, — the battle 
of Conti'eras. The battles of Churubusco and Molino del Eey 
followed. In each of these engagements the Americans were 
victorious, and came nearer and nearer to the city. Finally, 
the last defense of the capital, the rock of Ghapultepec, was 
taken by storm ; and the next day, September 14, 1847, Mexico 

surrendered. • 

161. Acquisition of 
'territory. — Tliis was 
le end of the war. A 
treaty was entered into 
with Mexico, by which 
the Rio Grande was 
made the southwestern 
boundary of the United 
States, and the 
^'i'- ^' Gila Eiver the 
northern boun- 
dary «of Mexico. The 
United States paid 
Mexico fifteen million 
dollars for the territory 
which was thus added 
to its domain, exclusive 
of Texas. Five years 

Zachary Taylor. Born Sept. 24, 1784. ^^^^^^ ^^^ ^^^.^^^ g^^^^^ 

bought the Mesilla Valley, south of the Gila River, for ten 
million dollars. General James Gadsden was the agent in this 
purchase. By these two cessions Mexico transferred to the 
United States the country now comprised in California, Ari- 
zona, Nevada, Utah, and parts of Wyoming, Colorado, Kansas, 
and New Mexico. 

Wilmot Proviso. — A few months after the Mexican War 
opened, the President asked Congress to vote money for the 
purchase of territory from Mexico, that so he might end the 
war. David Wilmot, a Democratic member from Pennsyl- 




TEXAS AND THE MEXICAN [VAR. 287 

vania, moved that the provision of the Ordinance of 1787 
which forbade slavery should be applied to any such territory. 
His motion was lost ; but the Wilmot Proviso became a doc- 
trine of the new Free Soil party formed in 1848. This new 
party as well as the Democrats had a candidate for the Presi- 
dency in 1848; but the Whigs, who had nominated General 
Taylor, carried the day. President Taylor had a short admin- 
istration. He died July 9, 1850, and was succeeded by the 
Vice President, Millard Fillmore, of New York. 

QUESTIONS. 

What was the relative proportion of free and slave States in 1840 ? 
How did the two sections compare in population ? What new country 
seemed available for the increase of slave territory ? What attempt had 
been made to buy Texas ? What course was taken by Texas itself ? 
What man and what newspaper stood for immediate abolition of slavery ? 
How were the Abolitionists received ? What difficulties did the discus- 
sion of slavery meet with in Congress ? How long did Harrison serve, 
and who took his place ? Who was elected in 1844 ? How was the admis- 
sion of Texas regarded ? How did Mexico regard it ? Narrate General 
Taylor's movements. Describe the movements of Kearney and Fremont. 
Give in detail the incidents of the war from September, 1846, to Septem- 
ber, 1847. What territory came into possession of the United States in 
consequence of the war ? What was the Wilmot Proviso ? What gen- 
eral of the war was so popular that he was elected. President ? 

SEARCH QUESTIONS. 

When was slavery abolished by England ? What is the story of the 
Alamo ? What American satire was written against annexation ? What 
was the Bear Flag expedition ? 

SUBJECTS FOR LITERARY TREATMENT. 

Compositions : 

The political thought in Lowell's Biglow Papers. 
The storming of the Alamo. 

Debate : 

Besolved, That the Mexican War resulted in good both for Mexico and 
the United States. 



CHAPTER XVIII. 



OREGON AND CALIFORNIA. 



Joaquin (ho-a-ken'). 

El Dorado (do-hi'do) = The Golden 
Region. The name given by the 
Spaniards to a fabulous region in 



America, supposed to be 
richest spot in the world. 
Laramie (lar'a-me). 



the 



162. Boundary Disputes. — Texas was the last slave State 
added to the Union. The tide of emigration was moving 
steadily northwestward. In 1846 Iowa was admitted into the 
Union, and in 1848 Wisconsin.^ While the representatives of 
the people in Congress were struggling with the question of 
free or slave territory, the people themselves were rapidly 
increasing the influence of the free States. The limit of the 
country on the north was the boundary line which separated 
the United States from the British possessions. When a 
treaty of peace was made after the war for independence, this 
northern boundary was made to run from the St. Croix River 
to the Mississippi. 

The St. Lawrence River and the Great Lakes marked most 
of the boundary, but for a part of the way there was only an 
imaginary line which never had been laid down in a survey. 
Thus there was a large tract of country which was claimed by 
the inhabitants of Maine and by those of Canada. The dispute 
ran high, and sometimes led to petty warfare, which threatened, 
at one time, to bring the two nations into open war. In 1842 

1 Both of these States made generous provision for education. They stand 
among the most eminent in carrying out the policy, dominant in the West, by 
which constitutional provision is made for a system including schools of all 
grades, from common schools to the university. 

288 



OREGON AND CALIFORNIA. 289 

the English govern lueut sent Lord Ashburton as special com- 
missioner to settle the dispute ; and he, with Mr. Webster, who 
was Secretary of State, agreeing upon a compromise, estab- 
lished the northeastern boundary as it now stands. 

The Spanish Claims on the Pacific. — The territory west of 
the line of Mississippi had originally been claimed by Great 
Britain and by France. The dividing line west to the Eocky 
Mountains was on the forty-ninth parallel. When the great 
struggle between England and France was ended in 1763, 
France ceded to England all her territory east of the Mississ- 
ippi, and by a secret treaty to Spain all that she claimed west 
of that river. When, therefore, in 1800, Spain ceded back to 
France what she had received in 1763, the United States 
in 1803 bought the same of France, the boundary continued to 
be the forty-ninth parallel on the north, and the Rocky Moun- 
tains on the west. 

But Spain still claimed the Pacific coast as far as beyond 
61°. She then held Mexico and California, and her vessels 
sailed up and down, trading with the natives. England also had 
settlements on the coast, and Spain conceded to her some right 
of possession, the two countries agreeing to trade peaceably side 
by side. When Spain sold Florida to the United States, in 
1819, she relinquished all claim to the country north of the 
forty-second parallel, and west of the Eocky Mountains. 

163. The Oregon Country. — Whatever claim, therefore, Spain 
once had to that country, the United States now received from 
Spain. It extended indefinitely to the north, was bounded on 
the south by the parallel of 42°, and lay between the Pacific 
Ocean and the Eocky Mountains It went by the name of 
Oregon, and included the present States of Oregon, Washing- 
ton, Idaho, and part of Wyoming and Montana, as well as part 
of British Columbia. The United States rested its claim to 
this territory on other grounds. In 1792 Captain Eobert Gray, 
of Boston, discovered and partly explored the river which he 
named, after his vessel, the Columbia. 

According to usage, the country drained by the river became 



290 DEVELOPMENT OF THE UNION 

the possession" of the nation to which the discoverer belonged. 
Lewis and Clarke also had followed the Columbia and its trib- 
utaries ; and after their return, John Jacob Astor, a New York 
fur merchant, sent out a company, and established near the 
mouth of the river a trading post, to which the name Astoria^ 
was given. On the other hand, the Northwest Fur Company 
of England, consolidated in 1821 with the Hudson's Bay Com- 
pany,^ had trading posts at the mouth of Eraser's River and at 
various points in the Oregon country. 

Joint Occupation of Oregon. — After the second war with Eng- 
land, when both countries claimed this region, it was agreed 
in 1818 that they should hold it jointly for ten years. The 
Hudson's Bay Company, v/hich was fnlly equipped for the fur 
trade, increased its stations. At the end of the ten years it 
seemed to have almost entire possession. In 1827, when the 
ten years were near an end, it was agreed to continue the joint 
occupation until notice of its termination should be given by one 
nation or the other. When this agreement was thus renewed, 
St. Louis was the great center of the fur trade of the West. 

Expeditions from that point into the disputed territory soon 
became common. The hunters brought back word of the fine 
farming and grazing lands they had seen, and parties of emi- 
grants began to make their way in that direction. The Hud- 
son's Bay Company, though hospitable to newcomers, naturally 
sought to keep the trade, especially that in furs, in its own 
hands. The United States government was strongly advised 
by officers of the army and traders who visited the country to 
establish posts there in order that an authority equal to that 
of the British might be asserted. These travelers, moreover, 
demonstrated the possibility of access to the countr}^, and de- 
scribed its resources. 

164. A Boundary Compromise. — Fortunately for the peace 
of the country, the agreement between the United States and 

1 See Washington Trving's Astoria. 

2 This company received its charter in 1(570. An interesting account of its 
operations may he read in The Great Lone Land. 



OREGON AND CALIFORNIA 291 

Great Britain distinctly asserted that the claim of either na- 
tion to the country was not to be jeoparded by any settlements 
which might be made by either Englishmen or Americans. The 
agreement for joint occupation was to be terminated by at least 
a year's notice from either party. Nevertheless, 'such a joint 
occupation could not be satisfactory. The Indians that lived 
in the country grew restless as they saw white men taking up 
their abode on Indian hunting grounds. There was always 
danger also of feuds between the English and the Americans, 
especially regarding the control of trade, and it was plain that 
the new communities formed could not prosper when there was 
uncertainty as to what government they were under. 

As successive parties of emigrants from the United States 
entered the disputed country, the necessity for decision became 
more apparent, and both Congress and the Administration at 
Washington took up the subject. It entered into national pol- 
itics. The Democratic party, with Polk for its presidential 
candidate, raised the cry of " Fifty-four forty or fight," mean- 
ing that the United States should demand of England all of 
the country up to the parallel of 54° 40', which was the south- 
ern limit of Russian America. England on its part stood out 
for a boundary marked by the Columbia River. In Congress, 
more than fifty speeches were made for and against the termi- 
nation of the agreement of joint occupation. 

Meantime, one administration after another in its correspon- 
dence with the government of Great Britain had insisted upon 
a line drawn at 49°. When Lord Ashburton came over in 1842, 
he was instructed to make counter propositions, but was for- 
bidden by his government to accept the line of 49°. There was 
some informal discussion between Lord Ashburton and Mr. 
Webster respecting the Oregon boundary, but the subject never 
came to a distinct issue. Lord Ashburton was too desirous to 
settle the northeastern boundary to jeopard that matter by 
discussing the Oregon boundary ; he had strict instructions 
not to accept the boundary of 49°, and it was evident that the 
American government would accept nothing short of that. 



292 DEVELOPMENT OF* THE UNION 

The controversy was closed in 184G. The British govern- 
ment yielded its claim, and proposed to the United States that 
they should agree on the parallel of 49° straight through from 
the Eocky Mountains to the Pacific Ocean, and a treaty was 
drawn up oh this basis and concluded: 

165. The California Pioneers In the same year that Cali- 
fornia became United States territory, gold was discovered in 

the valley of the Sacramento River, at the mills of 
1848 

' Colonel Sutter, a Swiss immigrant ; and a very hasty 

exploration showed that there was a great deposit of the precious 

metal. The news spread all over the world, and immediately 

there followed a rush to the gold region. The great body of 

the immigrants was at first made up of men only, who came 

chiefly from the Northern States of the Union. 

There were three modes of reaching California : by ship round 
Cape Horn ;^ by ship to Panama, thence across the isthmus, and 
again by ship ; and finally by the overland route. In two years 
there were a hundred thousand inhabitants in the valleys of 
the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers. The splendid 
harbor of San Francisco gave shelter to vessels which came 
from all parts of the world. The town of San Francisco, 
which in 1840 had only five hundred inhabitants, now sprang 
into a city. 

At first California was regarded as an El Dorado. It was 
occupied by a restless population searching for gold ; but the 
needs of the new country quickly attracted merchants, while 
the fruitful valleys induced farmers to settle. Many who had 
come to dig for gold found it more profitable to engage in 
business or agriculture. 

The overland route to California was a perilous one. Beyond 

the settled country lay the " plains," a hundred days' journey 

from the California valleys. Great herds of buffalo were found 

on these plains, and were hunted by roving tribes of Indians. 

In 1848 Fort Laramie, in what is now Wyoming, was the 

extreme western limit of population. 

1 Dana's Tivo Yeaj^s before the Mast is a notable account of such a voyage 
and contains also a vivid picture of San Francisco before the discovery of gold. 



OREGON AND CALIFORNIA. 293 

166. The Mormons and Utah. — At one spot, however, mid- 
way on the route to California, a remarkable settlement had 
been made. Joseph Smith, a resident of western iS^ew York, 
declared that he had received revelations from God ; in 1830 
he published a book called the Book of Mormon. He formed 
a society of men and women, and they made a settlement at 
Kirtland in northern Ohio and afterward at Independence in 
Missouri. In 1838 they were driven out of Missouri, and a 
new settlement was made at Nauvoo, in Illinois: Six years 
later, Joseph Smith was killed, and in 1847, the Mormons, 
under Brigham Young, made a new move ; this time they went 
far beyond the western frontier and established themselves in 
the valleys of what is now the State of Utah. 

Irrigation. — The early immigrants to Utah were inured to 
every hardship and privation of pioneer life. Some of their 
trains were attacked by the hostile Indians of the plains, and 
others, delayed by severe snow storms in the mountains, lost 
many of their number before reaching the valley of the Great 
Salt Lake. In this valley they encountered conditions which 
were entirely different from any they had known in the East- 
ern States. The soil, though naturally rich, can be rendered 
productive only by irrigation. They dug ditches which carried 
the water of the mountain streams out into the valleys, and 
in a few years the former desert was producing all sorts of 
grains, fruits, and flowers. Irrigation had been practiced for 
centuries by the natives of Mexico, but it was in Utah and by 
the Mormons that this system of cultivation was introduced on 
a large scale in the United States. 

Domestic and Religious Customs. — The land was divided in 
such a way that every family had its lot to cultivate, and by the 
practice of the community, every one who worked could have a 
share in the enterprises which enriched the community. A con- 
tribution of one tenth of the annual income of each member was 
paid in cash, produce, or labor for the support of the church. 
Mormon missionaries traveled in the older States and in Europe, 
making converts and bringing them to the new home. 



294 DEVELOPMENT of THE UNION. 

They offered to people who were discontented and to the 
hard-worked poor a land of promise and plenty. They ap- 
pealed to religious people, and declared that God was with 
them, as He had been with the Jews of old. In process of 
time many settlements were made in the valleys throughout 
Utah that were favorably located for irrigation. Towns and 
cities were built, and an energetic people, engaged in diversi- 
fied industries, produced for themselves almost every article of 
utility and comfort. 

This Mormon community differed in many w^ays from the 
settlements of the older States. It was a great industrial com- 
munity, but the power was held in the hands of the officers of 
the church. Their religion also countenanced polygamy, and 
thus they were still more a peculiar people. They were work- 
ing out their problems with the advantage of separation from 
other people. But Utah now lay in the track of the overland 
migration to California. Hence the Mormon rulers, remem- 
bering what persecution they had undergone in Ohio, Missouri, 
and Illinois, gave no encouragement to the passage of emigrant 
trains through their settlement. 

167. The Compromise of 1850. — President Taylor was eager 
to bring California into the Union before the question of 
slavery in that Territory should be discussed in Congress. 
He urged the people of California to call a convention and 
organize a State. They did this; and, since they 
were largely from the North, they formed a consti- 
tution prohibiting slavery, and applied for admission into 
the Union. 

At the time when California thus applied, Henry Clay had 
come forward with a new compromise, by which he hoped 
to settle the growing dissensions. He tried to satisfy the 
proslavery party by proposing to grant ten million dollars 
to Texas in return for territory given up, to organize the 
territories of Utah and New Mexico wdthont any provision 
regarding slavery, and especially to enact a more rigid Fugi- 
tive-Slave Law. 



OREGON AND CALIFORNIA. 295 

The Fugitive-Slave Law. — The Constitution expressly gave 
to slaveholders the right to recover their slaves if they escaped 
into another State ; but the increasing hostility of people in the 
free States to the system of slavery made it extremely difficult 
for slaveholders to find and recover runaway slaves, when they 
escaped into the free States. The matter was one of great irri- 
tation to slave owners. They complained that they were de- 
prived of their rights, in direct opposition to the Constitution. 
The new Fugitive-Slave Law was therefore so drawn as to re- 
quire United States commissioners to be more vigilant in hunt- 
ing for runaway, slaves. It gave new powers to the claimant 
in establishing the identity of the person claimed ; it also gave 
the officers the right to call upon any citizen to help them in 
the search and capture. 

Clay and Webster. — To satisfy the antislavery men, Clay 
proposed the admission of California as a free State, and the 
abolition of the slave trade in the District of Columbia. He 
took the ground that if Utah and New Mexico were organized 
as territories, and left to settle the question of slavery them- 
selves, both the proslavery and the antislavery men in those 
territories would have equal rights. Webster gave his sup- 
port to the Compromise of 1850. Like others, he viewed with 
alarm the growing dissension between the two sections of the 
country. He Avas a great public leader, and he worked with 
all his might to preserve the Union against the attacks of the 
extreme proslavery men and the attacks of the abolitionists. 

The Immediate Result of the Compromise. — California was 
admitted into the Union ; New Mexico and Utah were con- 
stituted territories, Brigham Young being appointed the first 
governor of Utah; Texas received ten million dollars; the 
slave trade in the District of Columbia was abolished, 
and the Fugitive-Slave Law was passed. There were 
many at the North who declared that this law interfered with 
the sacred rights of personal liberty. Some of the States 
passed Personal Liberty laws, designed to protect free ne- 
groes who were charged with being runaway slaves. 



296 DEVELOPMENT OF THE UNION. 



QUESTIONS. 

What was the boundary dispute with Great Britain ? How was it 
settled ? Who were the successive claimants of the territory west of the 
Mississippi ? What were the ancient limits of Oregon ? How had the 
country been explored ? how occupied ? What was the special wealth of 
the country in early days ? What were the claims respecting possession ? 
How was the question of boundary settled ? When and where was gold 
first found in California ? How did the emigrants to that country reach 
it ? Narrate the incidents connected with the rise of the Mormons. How 
was Utah made fertile ? What division was made of the land? How did 
the religious belief of the Mormons enter into their living ? How did the 
Mormons increase their number? What was the compromise of 1850? 
What were the provisions of the Fugitive-Slave Law ? What part did 
Clay take in the compromise ? Webster ? What were the immediate 
results of the compromise ? 

SEARCH QUESTIONS. 

What was the origin of the Hudson's Bay Company ? What was the 
Aroostook War ? What was the Great American Desert, and what has 
become of it ? What poem did Whittier write about Webster ? 

SUGGESTIONS FOR LITERARY TREATMENT. 

Compositions : 

A pioneer's journey to California. 
A Mormon missionary. 

Debate : 

Resolved, That the passage of the Fugitive-Slave Law was wise. 



CHAPTER XIX. 



THE MIDDLE OF THE CENTURY. 



168. Growth of Administration. — The addition to the United 
States of tlie great domain between the Ivocky ]\Iountains and 
the Pacific Ocean marks 
an important period 
in our iii story, which 
agrees practically with 
tlie middle of the cen- 
tury. It was the begin- 
ning of a continentid 
occupation, and also of 
the great conflict wliich 
was to determine the 
future character of the 
Union. There were now 
so many States, and so 
great a population, that 
there was not room in 
the old Capitol at 
Washington for the 
senators and represent- 
atives. Presi- 
dent Fillmore^ ^^^^• 

laid the corner stone of the extension of the Capitol, 
the Department of the Interior was created to do 
the administration work formerly done by other departments. 

1 Millard Fillmore was born January 7, 1800, in Cayuga County, New York, 
where his father had just made a clearing in the wilderness. He worked his 
way out of a manual occupation into the profession of the law, and in 1823 
began the practice of law in Aurora. Tn 18:30 he removed to Buffalo. From 

2U7 




Millard Fillmore. 



In 1849 
part of 



298 



DEVELOPMENT of THE UNION. 



169. Telegraphs and Railroads. — Joseph Henry, a distin- 
guished man of science, made important discoveries m magnet- 
ism and electricity, and in 1840 Samuel F. B. Morse, an artist, 
had made such application of the principles that he received a 

patent for an electric tele- 
graph apparatus, and four 
years later the first tele- 
graph line in this country 
was built, extending 
from Washington to Bal- 
timore. The construc- 
tion of this line inaugu- 
rated a new and rapid 
means of communica- 
tion. From that small be- 
ginning the business of 
telegraphing has grown 
to such proportions that 
in 1900 seventy million 
telegrams were handled 
by the telegraph offices 
in the United States. 

The development of 
the country by means 
of railroads and canals 




Samuel Finley Breese Morse. 



1836 to 1842 he was a Whig- member of Congress. During the short time that 
he presided over the Senate, before the death of Taylor, he showed himself an 
able and impartial officer. After retiring from the Presidency he led a quiet 
life of travel and study, and died in Buffalo, March 8, 1874. 

1 Morse, born in Charlestown, Massachusetts, April 27, 1791, was the son of 
a clergyman whose name was long preserved by the geography which he wrote. 
He was educated at Yale College, and there came under the influence of 
Day and Silliman, who were pioneers in science in America. He became a 
portrait painter, and was the first president of the National Academy of 
Design, which he helped to found. He had not lost his interest in physical 
science, and in 1832 when crossing the Atlantic he conceived and sketched the 
process of telegraphing which is known as the Morse system. He had a long 
struggle to perfect his apparatus, to secure and to defend his patent, but after 
that he received honors from all parts of the world. He died April 2, 1872. 



THE MIDDLE OF THE CENTURY. 299 

was very rapid. The first railroad in Illinois began operation 
in 1838. It was chartered as the Northern Cross Kailroad, 
and extended from Meredosia to Jacksonville and thence 
to Springfield. In 1851, the Illinois Central Railroad was 
chartered. It received a large grant of public land, and 
in consideration thereof, it was stipulated that the State of 
Illinois should receive for all time seven per cent of the gross 
earnings of the road. In 1852, the Michigan Southern Rail- 
road was completed to Chicago, making through connection be- 
tween Chicago and the East. The Niagara Suspension Bridge 
was finished in 1855, and the first bridge across the Mississippi 
was built the same year at Minneapolis. In 1857, Chicago and 
St. Louis were joined by rail and at the same time a traveler 
could go through by rail from Baltimore to St. Louis. 

170. Various expeditions were sent out by the government to 
secure a better knowledge of the national domain. In 1848, 
and again in 1852 and 1853, Captain Fremont was sent out at 
the head of exploring parties to the Rocky Mountains. He 
was an adventurous explorer, and was popularly called " the 
Pathfinder." The discoveries which Fremont made, and the 
new importance of California since the finding of gold there, 
led the government to make more careful surveys. The War 
Department undertook one to determine the most practicable 
and economical route for a railroad from the Mississippi River 
to the Pacific Ocean. 

It was in the middle of the century that the United States 
took an active part in explorations in other parts of the world. 
It sent Captain Wilkes to the Pacific Ocean, where he explored 
the Antarctic Continent ; it sent Lieutenant Lynch to explore 
the valley of the Jordan and the Dead Sea ; it sent Commodore 
Perry with a fleet to Japan, — a country which had heretofore 
been almost unknown to Europe and to America.^ 

1 The United States government published vahiable reports of all these 
expeditions. Not only did Commodore Perry do much toward opening 
Japan, but Townsend Harris, the first American envoy to Japan, was a very 
important figure in the negotiation of the first treaties. See his Life by 
William Elliot Griffis. 



300 DEVELOPMENT OF THE UNION. 

171. Increase of Immigration But the most important con- 
nection which the United States had with the rest of the world 
was through the very great increase in the number of Euro- 
peans who crossed the Atlantic to make their home in the New 
World, as it was still called. There were several reasons for 
this impulse given to emigration in the middle of the century. 
One was political. In 1848, attempts were made by the people 
in different European countries to secure greater freedom and 
government more like that of the United States. These 
attempts failed for the most part ; but the failure caused many 
of the leaders, who were men of ability and influence, to come 
to America. But stronger reasons for the movement of 
Europeans to America were to be found in the discovery of 
gold in California, the opening up of 'the Western country by 
railroads, and the cheapness of land. 

Emigration from Ireland. — At first tlie immigrants were 
very largely English-speaking, and their migration was caused 
in part by a great famine in Ireland in 1847. People in 
the United States sent shiploads of food and made contribu- 
tions of money in aid of the sufferers. The gift showed that 
America was a land of plenty, and a new impulse was given to 
emigration from Ireland. Although many of these emigrants 
had worke.d on farms at home, they found employment 
chiefly in towns and cities and few went beyond the Atlan- 
tic cities. The coming of such a body of foreigners made 
a great change in the life of the people, especially in New 
England. The young men and women who had been work- 
ing in the factories and mills were eager to go to the West 
and to California. The Irish stepped in and took their places. 
They found higher wages than they had known ; they were 
strong and willing. 

The German and Scandinavian Emigration. — The ocean ves- 
sels brought emigrants from other countries of Europe. They 
came by thousands annually from various parts of Germany, 
and from Norway and Sweden, and in lesser numbers from 
other countries. They were a vigorous and industrious class 



TllK MIDDLE OF THE CENTURY. uOl 

of people who contributed largely to the settlement and devel- 
opment of the great West and Northwest. Though they did 
not speak the English language, they came originally from a 
kindred race of people. 

They readily adopted American habits, and in a few years 
became genuine American citizens who loved their adojjted 
country, and were ready to defend its institutions. They 
found homes in Illinois and Michigan and Iowa, taking the 
places, very often, of the restless American pioneers who 
had been the first settlers of these States. The Germans in 
Wisconsin, and the Scandinavians in Minnesota and the Dako- 
tas, constitute a very large percentage of the population of 
these States. 

During the first fifty years of the existence of the govern- 
ment, one million immigrants came into the United States. 
During the next ten years, from 1841 to 1850 inclusive, the 
tide of immigration brought nearly a million and three quarters 
of home seekers to our shores, and, as we shall see later, this 
was but the beginning of a great movement from Europe to 
America. 

172. The Reaping Machine. — This occupation of the West 
was promoted by the great improvement in labor-saving ma- 
chines, by means of which large farms could be operated by a 
comparatively small number of men. The most notable inven- 
tion was the reaping machine, first patented by Cyrus ^Ic- 
Cormick, in 1834, and afterward greatly improved. It was 
significant of the rapid advance made by American inventors 
that in 1855, when a trial of reapers was made in France, 
three machines were exhibited from America, England, and 
Algiers, and a field of oats was reaped. The Algerian machine 
cut an acre in seventy -two minutes ; the English, in sixty-six 
minutes ; the American, in twenty -two minutes. 

173. Growth of City Life. — The extension of railways made 
it possible for the great farms in the West to send grain and 
other provisions to the cities very cheaply. The lonely little 
farms in the hill country, nearer the seaboard, became less 



302 DEVELOPMENT OF THE UNION. 

valuable and many were deserted, while the cities grew larger 
and larger. This rapid growth of the cities made it difficult 
for them to govern themselves wisely. There were important 
matters, like the supply of the city with water, the system 
of sewerage, the public schools, the erection of public build- 
ings, the police force, the care of the streets, which called for 
great sums of money and needed forethought and care. 

The city was always likely to grow faster than the citizens 
expected. There was an increasing number of persons who 
were in the city only for a short time; there were many 
others who were intent on their private business and gave 
little attention to public affairs ; and there was a large body 
of voters who had never been trained in popular government. 
The government of the cities was in the hands of a few 
men, chosen by the people, and they were left very much to 
themselves ; so it was often the case that shrewd and selfish 
men acquired power, and governed the cities for their own 
personal advantage rather than for the best good of the 
whole. 

174. Th3 steady stream of immigration had an important effect 
on the history of the country not so clearly understood at the 
time as now. The people who crossed the Atlantic were labor- 
ing people, and they would not go to the Southern States, where 
the laborers were slaves. Besides, the great carrying trade 
between Europe and America was largely in the hands of 
the Northern commercial cities. Hence this army of laborers 
swelled the population of the North, adding to its activities, 
building railroads, working in the factories, and pushing for- 
ward the filling up of the West and Northwest. All this 
strengthened the northern part of the Union in the coming 
struggle. 

175. The Intellectual Life. — The ocean vessels brought emi- 
grants from Europe, — the best gift which they could bring, 
for men and women make a country. They brought also an 
abundance of European goods ; the shops were filled with 
costlier articles than American workmen made. Pictures were 



THE MIDDLE OF THE CENTURY. 303 

brought over for exliibition and sale ; singers found great 
audiences waiting to hear them; more books were bought. 

It was of greater importance that the people themselves 
began to give attention to other matters than buying and 
selling, making money, and spending it on houses, food, and 
clothing. They had more leisure, and they busied themselves 
with politics, religion, and education, — matters for which 
they had always greatly cared. The habit of meeting and 
acting together when political affairs required made it natural 
for the people to form societies, whenever they had anything 
to accomplish which needed the help of numbers. 

These associations brought together people otherwise widely 
separated. There were publication societies formed by the 
churches, which multiplied books, papers, and tracts. These 
were carried by means of agents to remote villages and homes. 
Education societies helped to establish schools and colleges in 
the thinly settled parts of the country. There was a Coloniza- 
tion Society, which tried to answer some of the vexed questions 
of slavery by sending free blacks to Liberia, in Africa. 

The Lyceum and the Newspaper. — This was a time when the 
lyceum system became poi)ular. In the cities and towns there 
were courses of lectures. As children went to school, so older 
people went to the lyceum to hear lecturers who brought them 
the latest thought on science, literature, art, and philosophy. 
The newspaper had become a familiar visitor. There were 
daily papers in all the cities and towns. Even books were 
published in papers. The public schools had taught every- 
body to read; and the writings of popular English authors 
were printed in great newspapers, and sold so cheaply that 
large numbers were bought and read. 

American Literature. — American authors were taking their 
place among the great men in literature. George Bancroft, who 
had been Secretary of the Navy ^ and minister to England, was 
midway in the publication of his History of the United States. 

1 It was under his secretaryship that the Naval Academy at Annapolis was 
established. 



804 



DEVELOPMENT OF THE UNION. 



In 1849, Edgar Allan Foe, most imaginative of American poets, 
had died.^ In 1850, Washington Irving had written all his 
books except his Life of Washington. The poems by which 
William Cullen Bryant is best known had been written and 
published. James Fenimore Cooper died the next year, leav- 
ing behind him a long 
list of novels, the best 
of which were descrip- 
tive of American life. 

In the middle of 
the century Nathaniel 
Hawthorne,^ the great- 
est of American ro- 
mancers, had written 
The Scarlet Letter, 
which made him fa- 
mous. Henry Wads- 

1 Edgar Allan Poe, the 
son of a Baltimore gentle- 
man and an actress, Eliza- 
beth Arnold, was born in 
Boston, January 19, 1809. 
He was left an orphan when 
three years old, and was 
adopted by a wealthy mer- 
chant in Richmond, Vir- 
ginia, who gave him his own name for a middle name. Poe was well edu- 
cated by his foster father and sent to the University of Virginia, but he was 
an ungovernable, wayward youth, keenly intellectual, brilliant, and restless. 
He ran into debt, enlisted in the army under an assumed name, published a 
small volume of poems, was for a while at West Point, and finally, thrown on 
his own resources, became editor of one magazine after another, married a 
mere girl, and came under the strong sane influence of her mother. He died 
finally in poverty and degradation, October 8, 1849, but he had written poems 
and tales which the world will not let die. The most careful life is that by 
G. E. Woodberry. 

2 Nathaniel Hawthorne was born in the old seaport of Salem in Massa- 
chusetts, July 4, 1804, but he spent his boyhood in the solitude about Lake 
Sebago, Maine, for his father died early, and his mother was a silent, retiring 
woman. The boy grew up shy, but with a deep love of nature and a habit of 
living in his own thoughts. He was a student at Bowdoin College with the 




Edgar Allan Poe. 



THE MIDDLE OF THE CENTURY. 



305 




Nathaniel Hawthorne 



poet Longfellow, and after he left college he lived a secluded life in Salem, 
writing stories and sketches which found here and there an appreciative 
reader, and when collected as Twice Told Tales were warmly praised by the 
best critics. Fortunately he married happily Miss Sophia Peabody, who made 
a perfect companion, and with her he lived contentedly at Salem, at Concord, 
in the Berkshire Hills, and — when President Pierce made him consul — at 
Liverpool in England, and Italy. He wrote marvelous romances, The Scarlet 
Letter, The Hovse of the Seven Gables, The Marble Fann, and those delight- 
ful books. Grandfather's Chair and The Wonder Book. He died in Concord, 
May 19, 1864. A very pleasing book has been written about him by his 
daughter, Rose Hawthorne Lathrop, entitled Memories of Hawthorne. 



306 



DEVELOPMENT OV THE UNION. 



worth Longfellow * had 
published Evangeline^ 
and many of his most 
popular poems, llalph 
Waldo Emerson- had 
become known, by his 



^^$ 




Ralph Waldo Emerson, 



1 Longfellow was born 
in Portland, Maine, Febru- 
ary 27, 1807. He was edu- 
cated at Bowdoin College, 
and showed at once such 
aptitude for a literary life, 
that he was invited, though 
he was only nineteen at 
graduation, to be a professor 
in the college. He went to 
Europe and spent three or 
four years in travel and 
study, laying the foundation 
for that full, rich acquaint- 
ance with language and lit- 
erature which is so evident in 
his writing. He remained at 
Bowdoin five years, and then with another year of study abroad took up the 
work of professor of modern languages and literature at Harvard College. 
He had been writing prose for ten years, when in 1839 he issued a small 
volume of poetry. Voices of the Night, and after that, till the end of his life, 
wrote freely in verse, translating also, especially Dante. He gave up his pro- 
fessorship in 1853, but continued to live in the famous house in Cambridge, 
known as Washington's Headquarters. There he wrote Evangeline, Hia- 
watha, The Courtship of Miles Standish, Tales of a Wayside Inn, and his 
many well-known short poems. He died March 24, 1882. 

2 Ralph Waldo Emerson came of long ministerial descent on both his father's 
and mother's side. He was born in Boston, May 25, 1803, was educated at 
Harvard, and after a short experience in teaching, himself became a minister. 
But he did not long wear the minister's gown ; for though he was ready to 
preach, he wished to be free of church organizations, and his parish came 
to be the English-reading world. His first published prose work. Nature, 
appeared in 1840, and about the same time he began to print his poems; and 
for forty years, from his quiet home in Concord, he sent out his poems and 
essays, frequently, also, addressing audiences from the lecture platform. His 
wise speech entered into the thought of Americans as perhaps that of no one 
else. He died in Concord, April 27, 1882. His life has been written by Dr. 
Holmes. 




Heury Wadsworth Longfellow. 



307 



308 DEVELOPMENT OF THE UNION. 

Essays, as one of the great masters of English prose. There 
were other writers whose books were eagerly read : John 
Greenleaf Whittier, poet, a man of Quaker birth who had a 
zeal for pure religion and for freedom, and whose poems 
were a trumpet call; Oliver Wendell Holmes, poet and wit; 
William Gilmore Simms, novelist ; James Russell Lowell, poet 
and satirist, whose Bigloio Papers helped people to under- 
stand the meaning of the Mexican War, while they laughed 
over the verses ; and others by whom American literature be- 
came a distinct voice of the nation. 

Now, when the Whig administration under Fillmore was 
coming to an end, a book appeared which was, for the time, 
more widely read throughout the world than any other. 
This book was Uncle Tom^s Cabin, by Mrs. Harriet Beecher 
Stowe.' It was a story written to show what slavery v/as, and 
what it meant in the lives of men and women, white and 
black, in the Southern States of the Union. It went home to 
the hearts and minds of people ; they laughed and cried over 
it by turns. In vain the Southern people said that it was not 
a true picture of life at the South. It was a great story, and 
people believed it. Before this book appeared, slavery had 
come to be discussed publicly in Congress and in the news- 
papers. Now it was talked about in every home in the North, 
as well as in many in the South. 

1 Mrs. Stowe (born June 14, 1811) was the daughter of a famous Congrega- 
tionalist preacher, Lyman Beecher, who had a still more famous preacher for 
his son in Henry Ward Beecher. There was a large family, and Harriet, when 
her father moved from Massachusetts to Cincinnati, at first taught in her 
sister's school, and then married Professor Calvin E. Stowe, a professor in 
the theological seminary of which her father was president. In Cincinnati, 
she was in the midst of an antislavery society, and was constantly reminded 
by escaping slaves of the terrors of the system. She went with her husband 
to Bowdoin College, when he was made professor there. She had for some 
time written short stories and sketches ; but now she was eager to bear her 
testimony against slavery, and she wrote Uncle Tom's Cabin, which appeared 
first in a newspaper. The book made her famous, and she entered with 
religious earnestness into the cause of antislavery ; but she was also a natural 
story-teller, and during a long life she sent forth a long list of stories, sketches, 
and poems. She died in Hartford, July 1, 1896. 



THE MIDDLE OF THE CENTURY, 309 



QUESTIONS. 

When was tlie corner stone of the extension of the Capitol laid ? What 
new department of the administration was tlien formed ? Who were the 
men of science who inaugurated the telegraph ? Give some account of 
the extension of railroads. What exploring expeditions were sent out 
by the government in the middle of the century ? What great impetus 
was given to immigration ? Name the great sources of supply. What 
invention greatly affected agriculture ? What were some of the difficul- 
ties encountered in the government of cities ? What effect had immigra- 
tion on slavery? What were some of the social developments of the 
time ? What was the lyceum system ? What can you say of the news- 
paper of the day ? Name the group of American authors who constitute 
the older and now classic group. AVhat one book in particular aroused 
attention ? 

SEARCH QUESTIONS. 

What use is now made of the old senate chamber in the Capitol? 
What was the first public dispatch sent by Morse? Name the most 
important piece of literature contributed by each writer mentioned in 
Paragraph 175. Why should the poor man in Europe wish to go out into 
the American prairies ? 



SUGGESTIONS FOR LITERARY TREATMENT. 

Compositions : 

An account of the exploration of the South Polar regions. 

What a model newspaper would be. 

S. F. B. Morse and his trials and success as an inventor. 

The story of Perry's success in Japan. 

An account of one of Hawthorne's books that I have read. 

The railroads of to-day compared with those of sixty years ago. 

Debates : 

Besolmd, That it is wise for the general government to restrict immi- 
gration by the exclusion of paupers and the illiterate. 

Besolved, That electricity is of more value to man than steam. 



CHAPTER XX. 

THE APPROACHING CONFLICT. 
Topeka (to-pe'ka). Osawatomie (6s-a-w6t'6-me). Taney (ta'ni). 

176. Pierce's Administration. — In 1852, Franklin Pierce of 
New Hampshire, who was the Democratic candidate, was 
elected President. At this election General Winfield Scott 
was the candidate of the Whigs, and it was the last contest 
in which this party appeared with a candidate for President. 
During the administration of Pierce, the first treaty of peace, 
amity, and commerce was concluded between the United 
States and Japan; and an expedition was fitted out under 
command of Elisha Kent Kane, to search in the Arctic seas for 
Sir John Franklin.^ But all other affairs were subordinate to 
the great affair which was looming up before the nation. 

177. The Kansas-Nebraska Contest. — The abolitionists had 
demanded immediate emancipation. The large body of anti- 
slavery people at the Noith admitted that the Constitution 
protected slavery in the States then known as the slave States, 
and so directed their efforts to limit the bounds of slave terri- 
tory. When the rapid expansion of the country beyond the 

1 Sir John Franklin was an English Arctic explorer who, after two suc- 
cessful expeditions, set out on a third, in 1845, hoping to make the northwest 
passage. After three years, nothing being heard, search parties began to be 
sent out ; and from 1848 to 1859 at least twenty-one parties continued to search 
for the missing men. As late as 1880, a private expedition from the United 
States continued the search. Definite evidence was secured of the death of 
Franklin and many of the crew. The spirit of sacrifice which was displayed 
by the heroic endeavor to rescue Franklin was a notable characteristic of 
America and England during this period, and gave a great impetus to Arctic 
exploration. Tennyson married Sir John's niece. Kane's account of his 
expedition is a spirited book. 

310 



THE APPROACHING CONFLICT. 



311 



Missouri made it necessary to organize governments there, 
that country became the battle ground where the forces of 
slavery and antislavery met. The contest was both on the 
floor of Congress and in the country itself. 

Stephen Arnold Douglas, a senator from Illinois, introduced 
a bill for organizing the territories of Kansas and Nebraska. 
This bill assumed that 
the Compromise of 1850 
had repealed the Mis- 
souri Compromise. It 
gave to the territories 
which were north of 36° 
30' the right to decide, 
by vote of their inhabi- 
tants, whether they w^ere 
to be slave or free States. 
A sharp debate followed, 
and old party lines were 
broken up. The mem- 
bers w^ho opposed the 
bill were called Anti- 
Nebraska men. 

The bill was 
passed, and the people 
at the North at once be- 
gan organizing compa- 
nies of emigrants.^ They meant to settle the question of 



1854. 




Franklin Pierce. 



1 Franklin Pierce was born at Hillsborough, New Hampshire, November 23, 
180i. His father was governor of the State. The son was a fellow-student 
at Bowdoin College with Hawthorne and Longfellow : and Hawthorne, who 
was warmly attached to him, wrote a sketch of his friend when he was a 
candidate for the Presidency. Pierce became a lawyer, and for a brief period 
was a member of Congress, successively in the House and Senate ; he also 
served in the Mexican War, where he rose to the rank of brigadier general. 
He made himself very unpopular at the North by his steadfast adherence to 
the policy of the proslavery party. He retired to private life after his Presi- 
dential term, and died October S, 18fiO. 

2 See Whittier's poem, "The Kansas Emigrants." 



312 DEVELOPMENT OF THE UNION. 

slavery in Kansas and Nebraska by being on the ground be- 
forehand. Large numbers of men went out with the expecta- 
tion of having to fight, and a comparatively small number of 
full families. The South wished to add the two territories as 
slave States ; but there was no widespread movement of emi- 
gration with slaves into the territories. The situation would 
plainly have been one of great peril to slaveholders, as regards 
the retaining of their slaves. 

The greatest sensitiveness was felt m Missouri, for if Kan- 
sas and Nebraska were to become free States, Missouri would 
be almost surrounded by populations inimical to slavery. From 
the western borders of that State, therefore, came men, not all 
slaveholders by any means, but with the attitude toward 
slavery naturally taken by those who had always liv?d m a 
slave State. Many came as frontier men, pushing the border 
farther westward. 

The Conflict in Kansas. — The greatest conflict was naturally 
in Kansas, and the struggle lasted with some interruptions 
until Kansas was admitted as a State. It was at the polls 
that the contest began. The Missourians came in crowds 
across the border, voted down the free-state men, and 
returned in triumph to their homes in Missouri. 
The result was the election of a territorial legislature by more 
than twice the number of legal voters in the territory. This 
legislature adopted severe proslavery laws. The free-state 
men replied by holding a convention at Topeka, framing a 
constitution hostile to slavery, and electing officers under it. 
There were now, therefore, two governments in the territory. 
But the government at Washington refused to admit the State 
under the Topeka constitution, and upheld the territorial 
officers. 

A period of actual warfare followed. The town of Lawrence, 
which was the headquarters of the free-state men, was attacked, 
and some of its chief buildings were burned. Eetaliation fol- 
lowed. One of the most conspicuous of the free-state men was 
John Brown of Osawatoniie, as he was called^ because of a 



THE APPBOACniNG CONFLICT. 313 

famous fight at that phice. He and his men at one time 
crossed into Missouri, destroyed considerable property, and 
set free some slaves. The Northern and Northwestern States 
continued to pour men into Kansas and Nebraska, and it soon 
became clear that there was a large majority in favor of mak- 
ing the territories free States. But a territorial convention 
dominated by the proslavery party met at Lecompton and 
framed a constitution, under which a persistent attempt was 
made to secure the admission of Kansas as a slave State. 

The Contest in Congress. — Discussion in Congress meanwhile 
grew more bitter, and affairs in Kansas gave occasion for fre- 
quent debate. There was a contest, which lasted two months, 
over the choice of speaker of the House of Eepresentatives. 
It resulted in the election of N. P. Banks of Massachusetts, 
an Anti-Nebraska man. It became clear that the one question 
of the day was the momentous one of slavery or antislavery. 

178. Nicaragua and Cuba. — It illustrates the instinctive 
demand of the South for more territory in which the system 
of slavery could have free play, that a company of Southern 
men under William Walker in 1852 formed an expedition with 
the purpose of conquering Nicaragua and reestablishing slavery 
in Central America; and that Southern politicians made an 
effort in 1854 to secure the purchase of Cuba by the United 
States, threatening forcible possession of Cuba if Spain would 
not sell. 

179. Buchanan's Administration. — In the election of 1856 the 
Democratic party was again successful, and James Buchanan^ 

1 James Buchanan spent his life in political service. He was born near 
Mercersburg, Pennsylvania, April 23, 171)1, and was educated at Dickinson 
College. He became a lawyer, and had immediate success. In 1820 he became 
a member of Congress, and continued to represent Pennsylvania till ISol. 
The next year he was sent by Jackson as minister to Russia, where he nego- 
tiated the first treaty of commerce between the United States and Russia. 
On his return from Russia, he was elected to the Senate, and held his seat 
there till 1815, when he was appointed Secretary of State by President Polk. 
He went back into private life during the Whig administration which followed ; 
but when Pierce was chosen President, Buchanan was sent as minister to Eng- 
land, He died at his place, Wheatlands, in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, June 1,18G8. 



314 



DEVELOPMENT OF THE UNION. 



jm^^ 



of Pennsylvania was chosen President. But John C. Fremont, 
the candidate of the Republican party, as the Anti-Nebraska 
men now called themselves, had nearly as many votes. There 
was so much enthusiasm over Fremont that the leaders at the 
South became more than ever convinced that power was passing 
from those who defended slavery to those who opposed it. 

180. The Dred Scott Decision. — But a decision by the Supreme 
Court of the United States gave them new confidence. It was 

in the case of the negro 
named Dred Scott, whose 
master had taken him 
from the slave State of 
Missouri to the free 
State of Illinois and 
thence to the territory 
of Minnesota, where he 
remained for some years. 
After being taken back 
to Missouri, and sold, 
Scott sued for his lib- 
erty, on the plea that, 
having resided on free 
soil, he had become a 
free man. Chief Justice 
Taney delivered the de- 
cision of the Court, which 
was to the effect that a 
negro was not a citizen, 
and therefore could not sue in the United States courts. 
Furthermore, the Court expressed the opinion that slaves were 
not persons in the eyes of the law, but things ; that Congress 
had no more right to prevent slaveholders from carrying their 
slaves into any State or territory and holding them there, 
than it had to forbid them from carrying horses or any other 
property. This decision seemed to place the Constitution, and 
hence the law, on the side of slavery. But it was so startling 




James Buchanan. 



THE APPROACHING CONFLICT. 



315 



to those who had not been brought up in the slave States, that 
it deepened the antislavery feeling throughout the North. 

181. John Brown's Raid. — Minnesota became a State in 
1858, and Oregon in 1859. In this year John Brown collected 
a small body of men, white and black, in the moun- 
tains of Maryland. He made a sudden attack upon ^^p-^ ' 
Harper's Ferry, where there was a United States 
arsenal, which he seized and held for a few hours. The attack 




Harper's Ferry. 



was a direct assault upon slavery. Brown had resolved to 
carry the war into what he regarded as the enemy's country, 
and he expected to see the slaves flock to his standard. There 
were few at the North who knew of his purpose ; and the 
country, North and South, was amazed at the act. John 
Brown was wounded and taken prisoner ; some of his associ- 
ates were killed, and some were taken with him. He was 
tried by the State of Virginia, sentenced, and hanged. His 
action was generally condemned by the people, but many de- 
clared him a martyr to freedom, and accused slavery of pro- 
voking him to the deed. His act, moreover, deepened the 



316 DEVELOPMENT OF THE UNION. 

feeling of the South that the North was in a hostile attitude ; 
and public opinion at the South held the North responsible for 
Brown's movement. 

182. The Election of Lincoln. — The Democratic national con- 
vention met at Charleston in April, 1860, but being unable to 
agree on a candidate, it adjourned to meet in Baltimore in 
June. When the convention reassembled, it was found that 
there were irreconcilable differences between the Northern 
and Southern wings of the party. As a result, the conven- 
tion divided; the delegates from the Northern States nomi- 
nated Stephen A. Douglas of Illinois, and those from the South 
named John C. Breckinridge of Kentucky. Doubtless this 
rupture of the Democratic party exerted a potent influence 
throughout the country, and was largely responsible for the 
result of the approaching election. The Eepublican party 
held its convention in Chicago, and nominated Abraham Lin- 
coln of Illinois. A fourth party, calling itself the Constitu- 
tional-Union party, nominated John Bell of Tennessee. 

Mr. Lincoln was in favor of prohibiting the extension of 
slavery by law, and Mr. Breckinridge favored its extension 
by law; the issue between these two candidates was clearly 
defined. Mr. Douglas, in harmony Avith his doctrine of " popu- 
lar sovereignty," advocated non-interference, while Mr. Bell 
made the preservation of the Union the keynote of his cam- 
paign. An exciting and memorable canvass followed. The 
result showed that the Eepublican party had carried every 
free State except New Jersey ; Abraham Lincoln was to be 
the next President, and Hannibal Hamlin of Maine Vice 
President. 

QUESTIONS. 

Name two incidents of Pierce's administration. What was the bill 
introduced by Douglas ? Narrate what took place on the passage of the 
bill. How was the conflict in Kansas carried on at the polls ? What 
were the rival governments in the territory ? Who was John Brown ? 
What contest arose in Congress ? What filibustering expedition took 
place ? Who were the candidates for the Presidency in 1856 ? Who was 



THE APPROACHING CONFLICT, 317 

elected ? What was the Dred Scott decision ? Narrate John Brown's 
raid. Who were the candidates for the Presidency in 18(30 ? Wliat issues 
did they represent ? Who was elected ? 

SEARCH QUESTIONS. 

What was the Ostend Manifesto ? Name some of the polar expeditions 
since that of Kane. What was the Emigrant Aid Society ? Who was 
governor of Virginia when John Brown was tried ? What saying by 
Judge Taney at the time of the Dred Scott decision stirred up great 
excitement ? Name some famous poems directed against slavery. 

SUGGESTIONS FOR LITERARY TREATMENT. 

Compositions : 

An account of the attack on Lawrence. 

An account of Walker's expedition. 

Lincoln's boyhood. 

The Underground Railroad. 

An account of Nansen's search for the North Pole. 

An account of, the Lincoln-Douglas debate. 

The story of Dred Scott. 

Debates : 

Besolved, That John Brown's raid was the act of a fanatic. 

Besolved, That expeditions in search of the North Pole are of no bene- 
fit to mankind. 

Resolved^ That a citizen should stand by his State rather than by the 
Union. 



CHAPTER XXL 

SECESSION. 

Beauregard (bo're-gard). j terms agreed on ; used of an army 

Capit'ulate. To surrender upon | or a garrison. 

183. Southern Political Character. — During the discussion 
which preceded the election, the people of the North heard 
repeated threats from the South that if the Republican party 
were successful, the slaveholding States would leave the 
Union. They refused to believe these threats. They thought 
them only the angry declamation of a few heated politi- 
cians. Yet the threats were sincere. The voters of the South 
had learned to look upon the North as thoroughly hostile to 
the South. They made little distinction between the Republi- 
can party and the abolitionists, and they felt instinctively that 
an administration elected in a spirit of opposition to slavery 
would find many ways to injure it. 

The political habits and the ways of life in the South made 
it easier for Southern voters to believe in disunion as a cure 
for the evils which they were sure had come upon them. The 
doctrine of State Sovereignty had become familiar ; it had been 
laid down in the Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions of 1798, 
and had been upheld by Georgia in the difficulty with the 
Indians, and by South Carolina in its Nullification Act. The 
concentration of political power in a comparatively small num- 
ber of persons in each State, who acted together, made it still 
easier for them to think of the State by itself rather than as a 
part of the Union. 

318 



SECESSION. 319 

In fact, the older Southern States kept the character which 
they had when they were colonies of Great Britain more dis- 
tinctly than the older Northern States. They were still plant- 
ing States; they still had their own social life; the same 
families lived upon the same estates. There was no such 
constant movement from one State to another as in the North, 
nor any such introduction of immigrants from Europe. They 
were Carolinians or Virginians rather than Americans. 

184. The Secession Conventions. — South Carolina took the 
lead in fulfilling the promise of secession. As soon as it was 
known that Mr. Lincoln was to be the next President, the 
senators from South Carolina and all officeholders in the 
State under the Federal government resigned. The 
legislature called a State convention, and on the 20th ^qqq ' 
of December the convention unanimously passed an 
ordinance of secession. The ordinance bore the title: "An 
Ordinance to dissolve the union between the State of South 
Carolina and other States united with her in the compact 
entitled the Constitution of the United States." A copy of 
the ordinance was sent to each of the slave States, and com- 
missioners were appointed to arrange with the Federal govern- 
ment the terms of dissolution. 

The example of South Carolina was followed by Mississippi, 
Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas, all 
of which passed ordinances of secession. The question -j^gg-j^ ' 
was not submitted to the people ; it was the action of 
the States in popular conventions, a political method universal 
at the time of the adoption of the Constitution, and most 
familiar in Southern usage; the action of these conventions 
was unanimous only in the case of South Carolina, and after- 
ward of North Carolina. 

In February, 1861, a convention of delegates from the six 
States that had then seceded, met at Montgomery, Alabama, 
and formed a government under the name of the Confederate 
States of America. The constitution adopted was mainly that 
of the United States, except that it made careful provision for 



320 



DEVELOPMENT of THE UNION. 



slavery, and forbade a protective tariff. Jefferson Davis,^ of 
Mississippi, was chosen President, and Alexander H. Stephens, 
of Georgia, Vice President. 

185. The Seizure of the Forts. — In bringing about the act of 
secession, the political leaders at the South were not all bent 

on breaking up the 
I Union. They exercised 
^ what they regarded as a 
constitutional right and 
reasoned that they could 
make better terms over 
slavery out of the Union 
than in it. But since the 
States taking part in se- 
cession were acting as 
sovereign States, they at 
once took measures to 
obtain possession of the 
arsenals, forts, and other 
property of the United 
States within their bor- 
ders. 

The United States 
army was scattered at 
distant posts; but the 
larger part was in Texas, under General Twiggs, who obeyed 
the command of the Confederate States to surrender his forces. 




Jefferson Davis. 



1 Jefferson Davis was born in Christian County, Kentucky, not a hundred 
miles from Lincoln's birthplace, June 3, 1808, and was thus nearly of the same 
age. He was graduated at West Point in 1828, but resigned from the army 
in 1835. After that his career was in politics, except that he served in the 
Mexican War. He was a member of Congress from Mississippi in 1845, and in 
1847 he became United States Senator, but resigned in 1851, and was candidate 
for the governorship of his State. He was defeated, and at once was reelected 
to the Senate. In 1853 he again resigned, to become Secretary of War under 
Pierce, and at the end of his term went back to the Senate, where he was 
found when the secession movement camo. He was an uncompromising 
adherent to Calhoun's doctrines. 



SECESSION. 



321 



The forts throughout the South were mainly in the hands of 
Southern men, who delivered them to the new authorities. The 
commanders of Fort Pickens at Pensacola, and of the forts at 
Key West and Tortugas, refused to give them up. 

The greatest interest attached to the forts within the borders 
of South Carolina. The harbor of Charleston was commanded 
by Forts Sumter and Moultrie and Castle Pinckney. Fort Sum- 
ter was not yet finished, but 
a garrison, under Major K-ob- 



AND APPROACHES 

ert Anderson, a Kentuckian, Ncl s.aieof, ■ . gMuea 

was occupying Fort Moultrie, 

which was a weaker work. 

On the night of the 26th of 

December, Major Anderson 

secretly transferred his men 

and supplies to Fort Sumter. 

South Carolina demanded 
the evacuation of the fort. 
President Buchanan refused 
the demand, and determined 
to provision the fort ; for this 
purpose he sent the steamer. 
Star of the West, with sup- 
plies and reenforcements. He 
intended the expedition to be 
a secret one, but it was known 
at once in Charleston, and 
the steamer, when it appeared, was fired upon and driven back. 
The South Carolinians had taken possession of the 
other forts in Charleston harbor, and now erected ad- \qqi 
ditional works. They planned these for the defense 
of the harbor against United States vessels, but especially in 
order to attack Fort Sumter. They placed General P. G. T. 
Beauregard in command of the harbor defenses. 

186. Efforts at Conciliation. — Seven of the slaveholding 
States had seceded j the rest hesitated. The North, and many 



CHARLESTON HARBOR 




322 DEVELOPMENT O^ THE UNION. 

in the South who loved the Union, clung desperately to the 
hope that disunion might yet be averted. Men of all parties 
joined in efforts to bring about a return to harmony. Presi- 
dent Buchanan was filled with perplexity. He could not exe- 
cute the laws in the seceding States, and Congress gave him 
no help. He denied the right of the States to secede ; he also 
denied the right of the government to coerce them when they 
did secede. His Cabinet was divided. The Southern members 
dropped out as their States seceded. 

In Congress,- one measure after another was proposed in 
hopes of staying the tide. Mr. Seward, a senator from New 
York, and the most conspicuous of the Republicans, was willing 
to give up congressional prohibition of slavery in the terri- 
tories, to enforce the Fugitive-Slave Law, and to perpetuate 
slavery by a constitutional amendment. The Southern sena- 
tors and representatives left their seats in Congress as fast 
as their States seceded, and a Eepublican majority was thus 
obtained. Congress now admitted Kansas as a State, 
■ ^°^^' and passed a protective tariff bill designed to encour- 
age manufactures. Eesolutions intended to pacify the South 
were passed by both houses. 

Great meetings were held in the cities, denouncing abolition- 
ism, and urging extreme concession to the South. Prominent 
journals of both parties declared that armed coercion was mad- 
ness, and never would be permitted. A Peace Conference, 
called by Virginia, met at Washington in February.^ The dele- 
gates, who came from all the States that had not seceded, tried 
to bring about harmony between the sections. 

The State of Public Opinion. — The people throughout the 
country were in a state of bewilderment. The men in 
authority seemed to have no power to direct affairs. The 
Union appeared to be going to pieces, and already were heard 
plans of what would be done when the division came. The 
South had so often seen the North yield, when the question 
of slavery was pressed, that it stood firm; it expected to 
1 It was presided over by ex-President Tyler. 



SECESSION. 



323 



have its own way. The administration of Mr. Buchanan was 
to cease on the 4th of March. A President was tlien to come 
into office whose election had been made the occasion of the 
secession of seven States. Threats were uttered that he would 
not be allowed to take the oath of office, but Mr. Lincoln 
escaped danger by entering the capital unexpectedly after a 
journey from his home in Springfield, Illinois. 




Lincoln's Birthplace. 

187. Abraham Lincoln was a man who had not, heretofore, had 
large experience in important official positions. He was born 
February 12, 1809, in Hardin County, Kentucky. His parents 
were poor, and his father, who was of a roving disposition, took 
his family in 1816 to Indiana, and there they lived until 
Lincoln was twenty-one, when they moved again to Illinois. 
He received meager schooling, but pored long over a few books, 
— ^sop^s Fables, a life of Washington, Burns, Shakespeare, 



324 DEVELOPMENT 9F THE UNION. 

and the Bible.^ He worked hard with his hands as a young man, 
splitting rails, and he learned the surveyor's art. He kept 
store also, but he had little interest in money -making. At one 
time he was one of the owners of a flatboat that floated down 
to New Orleans.^ In 1832 occurred the Indian outbreak, when 
Black Hawk, an Indian chief, crossed the Mississippi with a 
band of Indians and entered Illinois. Lincoln volunteered as 
a soldier and was elected captain of his company. 

Finally he took up the study of law and began practice when 
he was twenty-eight. He took a keen interest in politics and 
was shortly after elected a member of the Illinois legislature, 
and for one term was a member of Congress. But he was best 
known in his own State as a forcible public speaker, and he won 
great distinction in a series of debates which he held in 1858 
with Douglas, when they were both candidates for the United 
States Senate. Lincoln was defeated in the election, but in the 
speech which he made when he was nominated for the Senate, 
he had said : " ' A house divided against itself cannot stand.' 
I believe this government cannot endure permanently half slave 
and half free. I do not expect the Union to be dissolved. I 
do not expect the house to fall ; but I do expect it will cease to 
be divided. It will become all one thing, or all the other." 

These words were often repeated by others, and they served 
to indicate where Lincoln stood on the great question which 
was profoundly stirring the nation. The public men of the 
East, who knew him but little, were at first perplexed by 

1 "His chief delight during the day, if unmolested, was to lie down under 
the shade of some inviting tree to read and study. At night, lying on his 
stomach in front of the open fireplace, with a piece of charcoal, he would cipher 
on a broad wooden shovel. When the latter was covered over on both sides, he 
would take his father's drawing knife or plane and shave it off clean, i-eady 
for a fresh supply of inscriptions the next day. He often moved about tlie 
cabin with a piece of chalk, writing and ciphering on boards and the flat sides 
of hewn logs." — Herndon's Lincoln. 

2 It was while in New Orleans that Lincoln saw the sale of a mulatto girl, 
and was so revolted by the sight that he said to his companions: " Boys, let's 
get away from this. If ever I get a chance to hit that thing [that is, slavery], 
I'll hit it hard." — Herndon's Lincoln. 



SECESSION. 325 

liis habit of listening to what everybody said without ex- 
pressing his own conclusions. They feared he lacked decision 
of character^ but it was not long before it was seen that he had 
the great qualities of a leader who not only knew his own 
mind, but the mind of the people he was leading.^ The Presi- 
dent of the Confederacy was a graduate of the United States 
Military Academy, who had achieved distinction as an officer in 
the Mexican War, and as Secretary of War, under President 
Pierce. He was a man familiar with public affairs. 

The Condition of the Country. — Mr. Lincoln, upon taking the 
President's chair, found the government in great confusion. 
The treasury was nearly empty. There were but few troops 
within call. Military stores were largely in Southern forts and 
arsenals. The vessels of the navy were scattered in distant 
waters, and officers both of the army and of the navy were 
resigning their commissions on the ground that they owed 
allegiance first to the States from which they came. The 
public offices were largely occupied by x^ersons in sympathy 
with the secession movement, and every step taken by the new 
government was known at once to the leaders of the Confed- 
eracy. Mr. Lincoln, meanwhile, was beset by a vast horde of 
office seekers, eager to take advantage of the change of adminis- 
tration. 

188. The Attack on Sumter. — President Lincoln waited a 
month, and then notified Governor Pickens, of South Carolina, 
that he should send supplies to Port Sumter at all hazards. 
Thereupon General Beauregard asked instructions from the 
government at Montgomery, and was ordered to open fire on 
the fort. He first called on Major Anderson to surrender; 
but Anderson refused, and at daybreak on the morning of 
Friday, April 12, 1861, the Confederacy began its attack on 
the United States. 

1 There are many lives of Lincoln, but no one that is at once brief and ade- 
quate. Perhaps the most satisfactory sketch is that by Carl Schurz. Chitten- 
den's Recollections of President Lincoln and his Administration gives well 
the human side of the great man. A readable story, The Gray sons, by Edward 
Eggleston, has Lincoln for a prominent figure in it. 
2 a 



326 DEVELOPMENT OF THE UNION. 

The first shot was fired from the Cumming's Point battery. 
Fort Sumter replied with a shot, and the bombardment tuus 
began continued for tliirty hours without loss of life on either 
side. The ammunition in Fort Sumter was then exhausted, and 
the fort was on fire. Thereupon the United States flag was 
lowered, and the garrison capitulated. The housetops in 
Charleston were thronged with spectators, and the telegraph 
carried news of the engagement hourly over all the land. On 
Sunday, April 14th, the garrison marched out. 

On the morning of the 15th President Lincoln issued a proc- 
lamation calling for seventy-five thousand volunteers, to serve 
for three months, and summoning Congress to meet in extra 
session. The response to the demand for troops was imme- 
diate; distinctions of party were swept aside, and for a time 
there was but one party at the North, — the party for the 
Union. 

189. The Marshaling of the Opposing Forces. — Immediately 
the States of the South which had wavered were compelled to 
make their choice. Arkansas, North Carolina, Virginia, and 
Tennessee joined the Confederacy. There was a strong anti- 
Union element in Delaware, Maryland, Kentucky, and Mis- 
souri ; but, though many men went from these States into the 
Confederate army, the States did not break away from the 
Union. 

The high table-land of the Appalachian range, which is the 
backbone of the eastern part of the Union, was unfavorable to 
slave labor; it was occupied by a sturdy mountain folk, and 
throughout the war a vigorous Union sentiment prevailed 
there, especially in east Tennessee and west Virginia. 

Virginia was the most important accession to the Con- 
federacy. There was, however, in the western counties so 
strong an opposition to secession, that these counties refused 
to obey the convention which passed the ordinance of secession; 
they chose a legislature which claimed to be the true govern- 
ment, and at last formed a new State, which was admitted into 
the Union in 1863 under the name of West Virginia. 



SECESSION. 



327 



Old Virginia at once became the chief battle ground of 
the war. The Confederate government was moved from Mont- 
gomery to Richmond; and since Washington was separated 
from the Confederacy only by the Potomac, it was clear that 
the great contest would be fought in the country which lay 




between the two capitals. Throughout the war which fol- 
lowed, the Southern people called themselves Confederates; the 
Northern people called themselves Unionists. These names 
are full of meaning. The contest was between the Confed- 
eracy and the Union ; for, little by little, the Southern people 
had strengthened themselves in the belief that the weak union 
of the days of the formation of the Constitution was a confed- 
eration of sovereign States; the Northern people had grown 
to the conception of a Nation which included all the States in 
an inseparable Union. 



328 DEVELOPMENT OP THE UNION. 



QUESTIONS. 

Why did the North disbelieve threats of secession ? What had led the 
South to entertain the thought of secession ? What State took the lead 
in carrying out the promise of secession ? What other States followed 
her lead ? What general government was formed at the South ? What 
was the first governmental act in opposition to the United States ? What 
forts came into the hands of the Southern States ? What forts in the 
South remained in tlie possession of the United States ? Narrate the 
action that took place with regard to the forts in Charleston harbor. 
What was Buchanan's position ? What attempts were made at concilia- 
tion in Congress ? What was the Peace Conference ? What was the 
condition of affairs on the eve of President Lincoln's inauguration ? 
Narrate the incidents of Mr. Lincoln's life before he was elected Presi- 
dent. What had been Jefferson Davis's antecedents ? In what condi- 
tion did President Lincoln find the country when he took office ? Relate 
the incidents connected with the attack on Sumter, What was the imme- 
diate effect on the country ? What effect did the attack on Sumter have 
on the South ? What action did Virginia take ? Where in the South 
was there a sentiment for the Union ? What were the names the two 
opposing sections gave each other and themselves ? 

SEARCH QUESTIONS. 

How did President Lincoln enter Washington ? What was the Con- 
federate flag ? Where was the first capital of the Confederacy ? the 
second?. On which side was ex-President Tyler in the war? What 
became of the various members of President Buchanan's Cabinet ? 

SUGGESTIONS FOR LITERARY TREATMENT. 
Compositions : 

The firing on Fort Sumter. 

What President Jackson would have done if he had been in Buchan- 
an's place. 

The remote and the immediate causes of the war for the Union. 
Arguments of those who believed slavery to be right. 
Arguments of those who believed slavery to be wrong. 

Debatks : 

Eesolved, That a way out of tlie difficulty would have been the pur- 
chase and freeing of slaves by the appropriation of money raised by 
taxation from the whole country. 

Besolved, That the States have no right to secede from the Union. 



Longitude 




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vn^j^ RollaC ■ ' ♦^Genevieve ^ 

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pirardeau" 



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^■^■:/^~>> y ■; j 

Meridian •■'./•■• cT' -^iALj^r'^-^ 

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^'^t i'l^.tche. P «^ ^ I € ^] .,...d.. 1 Kufau. 

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. ■^ Pf r 1 ^St.FrLcisyUU "~/50 y-^ %' 



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TALUAHASSEt s v > ^ 7- .-• 
Wark-s^ -^ ^i'^e ^ " Olustee \. 

/ /^ Paiatka.?! ^ WAR FOR THE UNIOIS^ 

SCALE OF STATUTE MILES 



from Washington 



CHAPTER XXII. 

THE WAR FOR THE UNION, i 



Con'fis-cate. To take an enemy's 

goods for public use, 
Clan-des'tine. Secret. 
San Jacinto (san ja-sin'to). 



Rap-pa-han'nock. 
Rap-i-dan'. 
Shen-an-do'-ah. 
Antietam (an-te'tain). 



190. Relative Strength of the Two Sections. — The people of 
the North were an uiiiinlitary people. They had a militia, but 
it was ill organized. The Mexican War had drawn few volun- 
teers from this section, and the United States army was very 
small and imperfectly equipped. The early action of the Con- 
federates also had weakened it. There was, however, a greater 
population to draw from than at the South. There was also a 
wider range of industry to supply the necessary funds to carry 
on the war. The South relied largely upon the need which 
England had of her cotton. Her young men had led lives 
more akin to a military life ; and she reasoned that they could 
all fight, while the slaves stayed at home to support them. 

President Lincoln's call for troops was met by a correspond- 
ing call from Jefferson Davis ; and from North and South men 
hastened to the banks of the Potomac. Regiments were hur- 
riedly equipped and sent forward. The first blood was shed 
in the streets of Baltimore, April 19, 1861, the anniversary of 
the battles of Lexington and Concord, when Northern troops 

1 Perhaps the most compact and unpartisan account of the war from a mili- 
tary point of view is Colonel Dodge's A BlrcVs-Eye View of Our Civil War. 
It is fairly well furnished with maps. There is a whole library of books and 
articles that may be consulted. 

.S-29 



330 DEVELOPMENT OF THE UNION. 

were attacked by a mob which opposed their passage through 
the city.^ 

191. The Battle of Bull Run. — General Scott was the com- 
mander of the Union forces, and General J. E. Johnston of 
the Confederate forces. The first military movements were 
in the mountains of western Virginia, and the success of the 
Union army led people to fancy that there would be a quick 
restoration of the Union. The newspapers, and people gener- 
ally, urged an immediate movement upon Kichmond. Very 
few had any knowledge of the difficulties before them, and 
General Scott, pressed by public opinion, gave the order to 
advance. The result was the battle of Bull Run, July 21, in 
which the Union forces were defeated, and retreated in a panic 
upon Washington. 

General McClellan in Command. — The disaster opened the 
eyes of people, and the country settled down into a more 
serious temper. Congress took measures to raise money for 
the army and navy. It called for five hundred thousand vol- 
unteers; it ordered a blockade of the Southern ports, and 
pledged itself to vote any amount of money and any number 
of men to maintain the Union. General Scott retired on 
account of his age and infirmity, and General George B. 
McClellan,^ who had been prominent in the western Virginia 

1 Very early in the war volunteer organizations for the aid of the army 
and navy were formed all over the country. Depots of supplies were es- 
tablished and many hospitals set up independent of the army. Besides 
the local societies there were two very efficient national organizations, the 
United States Sanitary Commission and the United States Christian Com- 
mission. As one result of a humane character following upon the war, the 
science of medicine and surgery took from this time a great advance in the 
United States. 

*- George Brinton McClellan was born at Philadelphia, December 3, 1826. 
He was for two years a student in the University of Virginia, but in 1842 he 
became a cadet at West Point, where he was the youngest in his class. He 
made his mark, however, for, on graduating in 184(), he stood second in general 
rank, and first in engineering. He engaged in the Mexican War, and took 
part in the siege of Vera Cruz, along with Lee and Beauregard. He was 
brevetted captain, and after the war he was employed by the government in 
surveys beyond the Mississippi. When the Crimean War occurred, Captain 



THE WAR FOR THE UNION, 



331 




G-eorge Brinton McOlellan. 

McClellan was one of a commission sent by the United States government to 
examine the military systems of Europe, and to report on the better organ- 
ization of the American army. He made an important report, on his return, 
and then retired from the service, and became president of the Ohio and 
Mississippi Railroad. He was living in Cincinnati when the war broke out, 
and the governor of Ohio at once commissioned him major general of the Ohio 
militia. He had most winning qualities and an unblemished character, so 
that he attached every one who came in contact with him. Near the close of 
the war, he became the Democratic candidate for the Presidency. He was 
elected governor of New Jersey in 1877, and died at Orange, in that State, 
October 29, 1885. 



332 DEVELOPMENT OF THE UNION. 

operations, was placed in command. He immediately set about 
organizing the Army of the Potomac, at Alexandria, in prep- 
aration for a second advance. The Confederacy also spent 
the summer and autumn of 1861 in organizing its Army of 
Northern Virginia, under General Beauregard. 

192. The First Blow at Slavery Congress had passed an act 

confiscating property used in the insurrection, including any 
slaves employed in service hostile to the United States. General 
Fremont, who had been made commander of the forces in the 

West, issued a proclamation declaring the slaves of 
1^881 ' ^^^^ person who had taken up arms against the Union 

to be thereby freed from slavery. President Lincoln 
countermanded this order. He was unwilling to estrange those 
slaveholders, especially in Kentucky, who were still loyal to the 
Union. He was, besides, not ready, and he did not believe the 
people were ready, to regard the war for the Union as a war 
to put down slavery. Some of the Union commanders even 
went so far as to send back slaves who had left their masters 
and had come into the Union lines. ^ 

193. The South and Europe Congress had declared the 

Southern ports blockaded, but it could not at once bring 
together a navy large enough to keep vessels from entering 
or leaving those ports. The South not only sent out vessels 
laden with cotton to the West Indies and to Europe, but 
received in return military supplies of all kinds. Of course 
the great bulk of business between the North and the South 
had stopped, although much clandestine traffic and correspond- 
ence went on across the borders. 

The South had never had manufactures to any extent, and 

1 One of the most ingenious solutions of the troublesome problem of dealing 
with slavery in the region occupied by troops was that devised by General 
B. F. Butler, who was in command at Fortress Monroe, Virginia, in the summer 
of 1861. Shortly after the secession of Virginia, some runaway slaves came 
into his camp, and the Virginian authorities demanded that they should be 
giyen up. Butler refused on the ground that they were " contraband of war." 
The term was caught up, and not only during the war, but for some time after, 
" contraband " was a familiar name for the negro. 



THE WAB FOR THE UNION. 333 

had no variety of resources. Heretofore she had sold her cot- 
ton, rice, tobacco, and sugar to the Northern States and Europe, 
and bought in return what she needed. It was to Europe now 
that she looked for help. The commercial and manufacturing 
countries of Europe saw the oi)portunity to increase their trade. 
English merchants, especially, were quick to take advantage of 
it, and the ports of English islands lying near the Southern 
States became at once very busy. 

194. The Trent Affair and the Alabama. — England and France 
issued proclamations of neutrality, and the Confederacy was 
very desirous of being recognized by them as an independent 
power. Mr. Mason and Mr. Slidell, formerly United States 
senators, were therefore sent by the Confederacy as com- 
missioners to London and Paris. They made their way to 
Havana, and at that port embarked on the English mail 
steamer Trent. After the Trent had left the harbor, Captain 
Charles Wilkes, of the United States steamship San 
Jacinto, who had been watching for them, stopped the -i op-i 
steamer and carried off the commissioners. 

This act caused great excitement in England, and for a while 
there was danger that the United States would be at war 
with England as well as with the Confederacy. Such an event 
would have been full of peril. Moreover, Captain Wilkes 
had gone beyond his authority. The government, therefore, 
without censuring him, admitted that he was in the wrong, 
and gave up the commissioners to England. 

Great Britain did not recognize the independence of the 
Confederacy; but English shipbuilders and merchants built 
cruisers which were manned chiefly by British sailors, while 
commissioned by the Confederacy and commanded by Confed- 
erate officers. They often carried the British flag until they 
had come upon an unsuspecting vessel sailing from a Union 
port, when they made a prize of it. Great numbers of Ameri- 
can ships were thus captured or destroyed. The English gov- 
ernment shut its eyes when the Confederate cruisers used the 
British flag and sailed into and out of the British ports. It 



334 DEVELOPMENT OF THE UNION. 

was warned that one of these, the Alabama, which afterward 
did much mischief, had been built and equipped in Liverpool, 
and was about to sail. Everybody knew its purpose, but the 
government took no pains to stop the vessel. 

Attitude of Great Britain. — The promptness with which 
Great Britain prepared for war at the time of the Trent 
affair; the repeated expression of sympathy with the Con- 
federacy given by the ruling classes there ; the indifference 
of the government, by which Confederate cruisers were 
allowed to be supplied and sent out of English ports to 
attack American vessels, — all these things served to estrange 
the United States from England. At the same time, not a 
few Englishmen had faith in the Union and advocated the 
unpopular Union cause. The cotton spinners of England, 
though they were brought to great distress by the closing 
of Southern ports, were very generally in sympathy with 
the Union. There were a few men of influence, also, who 
believed that the best hopes of man, both in England and in 
America, were bound up in the success of the Union. By 
speeches, by newspaper articles, and by other means, they 
aimed to keep Great Britain from recognizing the inde- 
pendence of the Confederacy.^ 

195. Forts Henry and Donelson. — The people at the North 
had grown impatient over the long delay to make a forward 
movement, and in January, 1862, President Lincoln ordered a 
general advance of land and naval forces. The order was 
earliest obeyed at the West. The Confederates had built 
Fort Henry on the Tennessee and Fort Donelson on the Cum- 
berland, to prevent access by river into the State of Tennes- 
see. The first attacks were made on these defenses. General 
Ulysses S. Grant ^ was in command of the land forces, and 

1 Among the strong supporters of the Union cause in Great Britain were 
John Bright, W. E. Forster, the Duke of Argyll, and Thomas Hughes, the 
author of Tom Broum's School Days. The Queen, also, strongly advised by 
Prince Albert, checked the rashness of the government. 

2 General Grant was born at Point Pleasant, Gleumont County, Ohio, 
April 27, 1822. His father, Jesse Root Grant, lived to a good old age, so that 



THE WAR FOR THE UNION. 335 

Commodore Foote, of the gunboats, which undertook to reduce 
these works. 

Fort Henry was first assailed and captured ; the com- -j^ggg ' 
bined forces then appeared before Fort Donelson, and 
after a succession of hard fights forced the commander to ask 
for terms. General Grant replied : " No terms except 
unconditional and immediate surrender can be ac- -j^ggg ' 
cepted. I propose to move immediately upon your 
works." This terse declaration gave General Grant distinc- 
tion, and caused the country, eager to find a great military 
leader, to follow his career closely. 

196. The Battle of Shiloh. — Fort Donelson surrendered ; and 
the Confederate forces of the West, under General Albert 
Sidney Johnston, retired to Corinth, Mississippi. Here Gen- 
eral Johnston received reenforcements, and made a brilliant 
attack upon General Grant's army, which was lying at Pitts- 
burg Landing, or Shiloh, on the Tennessee River. A terrible 
battle was fought, in which the Confederates were at first 

he was able to follow the distinguished course of his sou. The name given to 
the future general and President was Hiram Ulysses, and when Jesse Grant 
secured for his son an appointment to West Point, by some accident the papers 
accompanying the application bore the name Ulysses Sidney Grant. The 
only change which the student could obtain was from Sidney to Simpson, 
his mother's maiden name, and thenceforward he wrote his name Ulysses 
Simpson Grant. He did not take high rank at West Point, where he was 
graduated in 1843, but in the Mexican War, which followed shortly after, he 
served under both Taylor and Scott and took part in every battle except 
Buena Vista. He won the title of captain by his gallantry. He was married 
to Miss Julia Dent in 1848, and spent four years with his wife in garrison in 
Sackett's Harbor and Detroit. He was ordered to the Pacific coast in 1852, 
and, forced to go alone, he wearied of the monotony of army life in peace, 
resigned his commission, and took up the occupation of farmer near St. Louis. 
Afterward, to better his fortunes, he went to Galena and joined his brothers 
in the trade of their father, who was a tanner. It was while he was living in 
Galena that the war broke out, and Grant raised a company of volunteers. 
Men of military training were in demand as ofificers, and after being appointed 
colonel of the Twenty-first Illinois regiment, he was promoted to the rank of 
brigadier general, and serving at first under Fremont, his military ability 
quickly pushed him to the front. His biography after this date belongs to 
general history, and will be found recorded in the text. 



336 



DEVELOPMENT OF THE UNION. 




Ulysses Simpson Grant. 



victorious, but General Johnston was killed. When General 

April 6, 7, Buell joined General Grant with fresh forces, the 

1862. Union army attacked the Confederates and drove 

them back to Corinth. 

197. The Mississippi and New Orleans. — The Confederates 
April?, controlled the Mississippi by' a series of fortified 
1862. positions extending from Columbus, Kentucky, to 

the Delta. When Fort Donelson was captured Columbus 



THE WAR FOR THE UNION. 337 

could no longer be held, and the Confederates retired to 
Island Number Ten. On the last day of the battle of Shiloh, 
this island was captured by Admiral Foote and 
General Pope. Two months later, Fort Pillow was \Tro 
abandoned by the Confederates, and after a daring 
attack by the river fleet, Memphis surrendered to the Union 
army. 

Meanwhile a fleet and an army had been sent to attack 
New Orleans. The fleet under Commodore David Gr. Farragut^ 
bombarded the forts at the entrance of the river, and 
passed them and the various obstructions which had Toan ' 
been placed in the way. After running a gauntlet of 
rams and Are rafts, the fleet appeared before New Orleans, 
which surrendered, and was placed under control of General 
Benjamin F. Butler. 

198. The Monitor and the Merrimac. — In the East no such 
success had followed the Union arms. The Confederates had 
taken the Merrimac, a former frigate of the United States 
navy, which had fallen into their hands, and sheathed her 
with railroad iron, giving her also an iron prow. The curious 
monster, transformed thus into a ram, was ready for use, and 
came out of Gosport Navy Yard, accompanied by three gun- 

1 Farragut was the first admiral of the United States navy, that rank 
having been created during tlie war. He was born near Knoxville, Tennessee, 
July 5, 1801. He was but nine years old when he entered the navy, and was 
on the Essex in 1812 witli Captain David Porter, who was his godfather. He 
spent his life at sea. In 1825 he was promoted to the rank of lieutenant, 
in 1841 he became commander, and in 1855 captain. He was at Norfolk when 
the war broke out, and as botli by birth and marriage he was connected with 
the South, his neiglibors expected him to throw in his lot with the Confederacy. 
But Farragut had followed the flag for fifty years, and indignantly refused the 
offers made him. He went to Washington and held himself ready for orders 
from his government. He became one of the great figures in the war, and a 
favorite picture was that which represented him in the tops of his vessel, with 
his glass, giving orders as his fleet passed the forts near New Orleans. When 
the war was over, he went to Europe in the Franklin and was everywhere 
received with high honors. His rugged, kindly nature and great rectitude 
justly made him a hero with the people. He died at Portsmouth, New 
Hampshire, August 14, 1870. See his life by Captain Mahan. 



338 



DEVELOPMENT OF* THE UNION. 




David G-lascoe Farragnt. 

boats, to attack the fleet which lay in Hampton Roads. The 
Merrimac destroyed the sloop of war Cumberland,^ and com- 
pelled the frigate Congress to surrender, and with the 
1862 ' S^^^^^^^s scattered the rest of the United States fleet. 
The greatest consternation followed at the North. 
It was supposed that every seaport would be at the mercy 
of the Merrimac. Suddenly the Monitor, a turreted ironclad 

1 See Lougfellow's poem, "The Cumberlaud." 



THE WAR FOR THE UNION. 



339 



vessel just finished for the United States by Captain John 
Ericsson/ appeared on the scene and attacked the 
Merrimac. The Monitor was much the smaller vessel, ^o ' 
but in the sharp engagement which followed, she 
showed herself a formidable antagonist, and the "cheese box/' 
as she was called, com- 
pelled the Merrimac to 
retire to Gosport. These 
encounters were remark- 
able as the first great 
engagements between 
ironclads and wooden 
vessels and between two 
ironclads. The results 
caused a revolution in 
the navies of the world, 
for all the great powers 
began at once the con- 
struction of iron and 
steel clad vessels. 

199. McClellan's Ad- 
vance. — The day after 
the fight of the Monitor 
and Merrimac, General 
McClellan began to move 
his forces against the enemy. He advanced on the way to 
Manassas, where the Confederate forces had been posted ; but 
General Joseph E. Johnston, who was in command, had fallen 

1 John Ericsson was born in Sweden, July 31, 1803. He early showed great 
inventive skill and was employed as an engineer in the Swedish service. He 
resigned in 182G and went to England to introduce an engine he had invented. 
In 1829 he won a prize for the best locomotive engine, and invented a hot-air 
engine. He came to New York in 1839 and built the United States steamer 
Princeton, He was busily engaged in perfecting his hot-air engine and 
applying it to the propulsion of vessels, and upon the outbreak of the war he 
put himself at the service of the United States government. After the war 
he constantly displayed his inventive genius in various constructions. He 
died March 8, 1889. 




John Ericsson. 



340 



DEVELOPMENT OP THE UNION. 



back toward E-ichmond. It was not McClellan's purpose to 
move upon Richmond across the country.' He withdrew his 
forces, and went by water to Fortress Monroe, intending to 
advance up the peninsula. His march was arrested by the 
fortifications at Yorktown, behind which Johnston lay with 
his army. 

McClellan laid siege to Yorktown ; but Johnston only 
wished to gain time, and when McClellan was ready to at- 




The Merrimac sinking the Cumberland. 

tack the place, the Confederates retreated toward Richmond. 

McClellan followed, and the day after the evacuation of York- 
town, attacked the rear of Johnston's army at Will- 
1862* ^^^sburg. Johnston rested his army behind the 
defenses of the Chickahominy, and on the last day 

of May attacked McClellan at Fair Oaks. McClellan renewed 

the battle on the day following, and forced the Confederates 



MAP TO ILLUSTRATE THE OPERATIONS OF 

THE ARMY OF THE POTOMAC, ETC. ^^X:> 



SCALE OF STATUTE MILES 



10 20 30 10 50 4: -,;^^-0-'"' Carlisle 










341 



342 



DEVELOPMENT Op THE UNION. 




to retire. Johnston was wounded, and was succeeded by 
General Robert E. Lee. 

200. Confederate Victories. — While Johnston was holding 
McClellan in check, a brilliant Confederate commander, Gen- 
eral T. J. Jackson,^ was 
'1 making a series of rapid 
movements against di- 
visions of the Union 
army which were in the 
valley of the Shenan- 
doah. He was com- 
monly known as Stone- 
wall Jackson, because 
of the saying that his 
men would stand like a 
stone wall to meet the 
enemy's attack. In 
quick succession Jack- 
son met and repulsed 
Generals Fremont, 
Banks, and INfcDowell, 
and then joined Lee. 
The Confederate army 
now fell upon the Union 
army, and in a series of battles at the end of June forced it 
back to Harrison's Landing, on the James River. 

Lee and Jackson then turned their attention toward Wash- 
ington, which was defended by an army under General Pope. 

1 Thomas Jonathan Jackson was born in Harrison County, Virginia, January 
21, 1824. He was sprung from that Scotch-Irish stock to which our attention has 
often been drawn. He was educated at West Point, and served in the Mexican 
War. He then resigned his commission, and became professor of natural 
philosophy in the Virginia Military Institute at Lexington, and held the posi- 
tion till the breaking out of the war. As a young man, he was full of spirit 
and sport. In mature life, he made a profession of religion, and thenceforth 
was as unflinchingly devout and God-fearing as an old Scotch Covenanter. 
His life was one of profound religious conviction, and he won the passionate 
admiration of the men he commanded. See his life by his wife. 




Stonewall Jackson. 



THE WAR FOR THE UNION. 



343 




Robert Edward Lee. 



1 Robert Edward Lee was born at Stratford, Westmoreland County, Virginia, 
January 19, 1807. His Lather was a brilliant general in the war for inde- 
pendence, and was familiarly known as Light-Horse Harry Lee. The future 
Confederate general was graduated at West Point in 1820, and received a com- 
mission in the eni^ineer corps. He distinguished himself in the Mexican War, 
and was brevetted colonel for his bravery in the siege of Chapultepec. In 1852 
he was appointed superintendent of the military academy at West Point. In 
March, ISGl, he was made colonel of the first regiment of cavalry. He hesi- 
tated over the course he should take, but when Virginia seceded, he made 
obedience to his State paramount, resigned his commission in the LTnited States 
army, and was third of the first five generals appointed by the Confederacy. 
At the close of the war, he was elected president of Washington-Lee University, 
at Lexington, Virginia, and held the oface till his death, October 12, 1870. 



344 DEVELOPMENT OF THE UNION. 

Pope's forces stretched along the Rappahannock and Rapidan 
to the first line of the Blue Ridge. General Banks held a 
position at the western end of the line, and was attacked by 
Jackson at Cedar Mountain, August 9. Lee followed close 
behind, and the two generals forced Banks back, and then 
attacked Pope. McClellan at Harrison's Landing was 
'^^'ftfi? ' oi'dered to join Pope, and a portion of his forces came 
up in time to take part in the second battle of Manas- 
sas, fought near the old battlefield of Bull Run. Pope's army 
was put to rout. 

Antietam and Fredericksburg. — Lee now led his victori- 
ous army across the upper Potomac and entered Maryland. 
McClellan, gathering the remnants of the two defeated armies, 
followed, and confronted the Confederates at Antietam Creek. 
Here a desperate struggle took place, September 17. It left 
each army exhausted, but the victory remained with the Union- 
ists. The Confederates recrossed the Potomac, and retired up 
the Shenandoah Valley. McClellan's course had dissatisfied 
the administration, and his command was given 
1 RfiP ' ^^ General Ambrose E. Burnside, who attempted to 
move upon Richmond by way of Fredericksburg. 
Lee placed himself upon the hills behind the town, and 
when Burnside crossed the river, met his attack and com- 
pletely defeated him.^ 

1 For details of these movements see Antietam and Fredericksburg by 
Francis Winthrop Palfrey. 

QUESTIONS. 

Compare the characteristics and resources of the two sections of the 
country in view of the war. Who were the commanders on the two 
sides ? What brought on the battle of Bull Run ? What was the result 
of the battle ? What was the first direct blow struck at slavery ? How- 
did President Lincoln act ? What attitude did the South take toward 
Europe ? Narrate the incidents of the Trent affair. How did the British 
government act with regard to Confederate cruisers ? What was the 
divided attitude of England toward America ? Describe the taking of 
Forts Henry and Donelson. Describe the series of actions by which the 



THE WAR FOR THE VIRION. 345 

Mississippi came under Union control. Narrate the affair of the Monitor 
and tlie Merriniac. Wliat was McClellan's campaign ? Describe the suc- 
cesses won by Jackson and Lee. 

SEARCH QUESTIONS. 

What was Seward's prophecy as to the duration of the war ? For 
what was General Sherman accused of madness ? What was Seward's 
proposition to President Lincoln for the settlement of difficulties ? What 
ports of Great Britain were especially busy during the blockade? 

SUGGESTIONS FOR LITERARY TREATMENT. 

Compositions : 

The Baltimore Riot. 

Boyhood days of General Grant. 

John Ericsson the inventor. 

The coming of the Monitor. 

How the ironclad monitor revolutionized the navies of the world. 

Horace Greeley. 

An account of the capture of New Orleans. 

Debates : 

Besolved, That Fremont should have been supported by the President 
when he issued his proclamation. 

Besolved, That the British government should have recognized the 
Southern Confederacy. 



CHAPTER XXIII. 



THE WAR FOR THE UNION. II. 



Chick-a-mau'ga. 

Torpe'do. A machine, containing 
gunpowder or other explosives, 
intended to destroy ships. 



Sic semper Tyrannis. A Latin 
sentence, meaning " So be it ever 
to tyrants," 

Chat-ta-noo'ga. 



201. The Financial Situation. — During the movements of the 
armies in 1862, the Congress of the United States was occupied 
in measures connected with the prosecution of the war. It 
also provided for the construction of a railway to the Pacific, 
and it passed the Homestead Bill, which assigned one hundred 
and sixty acres of the public lands to each family that should 
establish a home thereon. 

Its most far-reaching action was in the provision for a uni- 
form national currency. When the war began, the govern- 
ment borrowed large sums of money to defray expenses, and 
it continued to borrow as new demands arose. Since the Bank 
of the United States had failed to secure a renewal of its char- 
ter during Jackson's administration, the States had incorpo- 
rated banks, and the bills of each local bank had been received 
at par only in its own neighborhood. At this time the banks 
in the several States could not obtain specie in exchange for 
their bills, except by paying a high price for it ; the condition 
was similar to that which existed in the war for independence, 
for promises to pay are good only as they can be redeemed in 
the coin which is the standard of value throughout the civilized 
world ; and the war in America caused the nations dealing with 
it to accept gold only. At the end of 1861, the banks were 
obliged to suspend specie payments, — that is, they no longer 

346 



THE WAR FOR THE UNION. 347 

gave specie in return for the promises to pay which they had 
issued. 

In order to provide a currency for the people, Congress 
passed a bill, early in 18G2, authorizing the issue of notes 
by the United States Treasury. From the green tint i^rinted 
upon the back of the notes, they were popularly termed " green- 
backs " ; and to insure their success, Congress declared that 
they were " legal tender for all debts public and private, ex- 
cept duties on imports and interest on the public debt." Early 
in 1863, Congress passed an act establishing national banks. 
By the national banking system, all bills issued by the national 
banks became current in every part of the country. These 
acts were largely the work of Salmon P. Chase, Secretary of 
the Treasury. 

202. The Emancipation Proclamation. — The prospect looked 
gloomy for the country as the year 1862 drew to a close. 
President Lincoln, who watched anxiously every movement, 
was convinced that the time had come when the Union could 
no longer hope to conquer a peace and at the same time spare 
the system of slavery, which every one saw was at the founda- 
tion of the Confederacy. He therefore announced, in Septem- 
ber, that unless the seceding States returned to their allegiance 
within a hundred days, he should declare the slaves in those 
States to be free. It was a formal notice given out of respect 
to law ; no one expected that it would be regarded by the 
South, which only grew more firm. 

On the first day of January, 1863, in accordance wdtli his 
notice, the President issued a Proclamation of Emancipation.^ 
One of the first results of this act was the formation of regi- 
ments of negro soldiers as a settled policy. An attack made 
by one of these regiments, under Colonel Robert G. Shaw,^ 
upon Fort Wagner,^ in Charleston harbor, though unsuccess- 

1 Emerson's noble " Boston Hymn " was read at a meeting held in recogni- 
tion of the proclamation. 

2 See Lowell's poem, " Memorife Positum." 

3 So great has been the change in the harbor through the shifting of sand 
that there is now not a vestige of Fort Wagner ; it is under water. 



348 



DEVELOPMENT OF THE UNION. 



fill, was the occasion of so much bravery that the prejudice 

against negro soldiers disappeared, and great numbers were 

enlisted.^ 

^ 203. The Battle of Gettysburg. — General Joseph Hooker 

had succeeded General 
Burnside, and attempt- 
ed to lead the army 
again to Eichmond, but 
was met by General 
Lee at Chancel- 

1863 ' lo^s^i^^^j ^^^ 
disastrously de- 
feated. The Confeder- 
ates suffered heavily at 
this time in the death 
of their famous leader, 
stonewall Jackson. Lee 
followed up his success 
by crossing the Potomac 
above Harper's Ferry, 
and marching into Penn- 
sylvania. The Union 




George Gordon Meade. 



army. 



now under the 



command of General 
George G. Meade,^ hurried forward to meet him ; for Lee was 

1 Not far from one hundred and eighty thousand negroes were in the service 
before the war closed. 

2 George Gordon Meade was born December 30, 1815, in Cadiz, Spain, where 
his father was, at the time. United States navy agent. His family was Penn- 
sylvanian. He was educated at West Point, and after a year's service in 
the war against the Seminoles, he resigned his commission, and became a civil 
engineer. Six years later, in 1842, he reentered the army as second lieutenant 
of topographical engineers, and served in the Mexican War. He was employed 
afterwards in a survey of the Great Lakes, and in August, 18()1, became 
brigadier general of volunteers, in command of some Pennsylvania troops. 
After the war, he had command, successively, of important military districts, 
and at the time of his death, November 6, 1872, had his headquarters at 
Philadelphia. His greatest military services are treated in Chancellorsville 
and Gettysburg, by General Abuer Doubleday. 



THE WAR FOE THE UNION, 



349 



concentrating his forces and threatening Baltimore and Wash- 
ington. The two armies met at Gettysburg, and a battle fol- 
lowed which occupied the first three days of July, 1863. It was 
the most critical battle of the war. The Confederates were 
defeated, and retreated into Virginia. Tlw3y never afterward 
came so near a final success, and the battle of Gettysburg is 
thus regarded as the turning point of the war. In this 
mighty conflict, the eighty thousand Union troops engaged 
lost more than one fourth of their number in killed, wounded, 
and missing; while the losses of the Confederate army of 
seventy-three thousand reached a total of twenty-five thou- 
sand. 

204. Operations in the West. — In the West, Grant had made 
several ineffectual attempts to capture Vicksburg by approach- 
ing it from the North. In 
April, 1863, moving his army 
from Milliken's Bend to a 
point opposite Bruinsburg, he 
crossed the river, and after 
fighting several severe bat- 
tles, received the surrender of 
Vicksburg on the fourth of 
July. Port Hudson, under 
siege at the same time, could 
no longer hold out; and the 
Mississippi, as President Lin- 
coln said, "ran un- 
vexed to the sea." loco' 

ioDO. 

General Rosecrans, 




VICINITY or VICKSBURG. 

Scile of, ^^ 10 IMllfS 



in command of the Army of 

the Cumberland, which had been in quarters at Murfreesboro, 

moved southward upon the Confederate forces under 

General Bragg. At Chickamauga a great battle was ^^ggo ' 

fought in September, in which the Confederate army 

was victorious. It turned, and drove General Rosecrans to 

Chattanooga, and laid siege to the place. Rosecrans was re- 



350 DEVELOPMENT OF THE UNION. 

enforced by General W. T. Sherman ^ with troops from Vicks- 
burg, and by General Hooker with a portion of the Army of 
the Potomac. General Grant was put in command of all the 
armies of the West. The Confederates were attacked, de- 
feated in the battles of Lookout Mountain and Missionary 
Kidge, and driven southward. 

205. Grant's Movement on Richmond. —The success of Grant 
at the West made him the chief ligure in the war, and he was 
raised to the grade of lieutenant general, the highest in the 
army; the President, by the Constitution, being commander- 
in-chief. In the spring of 1864, Grant left Sherman at the 
head of the Western armies, and took up his headquarters 
with the Army of the Potomac, in order to direct the opera- 
tions in Virginia. Por six weeks, in a series of rapid move- 
ments, General Grant attempted to get between Lee's army 
and Pichmond. He did not succeed in this. He fought the 
terrible battle of the Wilderness, in which both sides lost 
heavily, though the advantage at the end of the 

I^Rfii ' ^^^t^® remained with the Unionists. Other battles 
followed, but Grant could not force Lee's lines, and 
now laid siege to Pichmond and Petersburg. 

1 As lias already been mentioned, General Sherman came of a family which 
had done ^ood service in Ohio. He was born in Lancaster in that State, Feb- 
ruary 8, 1820. His middle name was due to his father's great admiration for 
the Indian chief of that name. In 183G Sherman entered West Point, and 
graduated sixth in a class of forty-three. He served against the Seminoles in 
Florida, and afterward was stationed at Fort Moultrie. In 184() he w^as sent 
to California, and on his return to the East, four years later, he became com- 
missary first at St. Louis and then at New Orleans. He resigned his commis- 
sion in 1853, the better to support his family, and went to San Francisco as 
partner in a banking house. He was very active in that city as a member of 
the Vigilance Committee. He was for a short time in a law firm in Leaven- 
worth, Kansas, and in 18-59 was appointed superintendent of the Louisiana 
Military Academy. When Louisiana seceded he went to St. Louis and took 
the presidency of a street-railway company. Such was the varied experience 
before the war of one of the most brilliant of American generals. When 
Sumter was fired on, Sherman at once offered his services and was incessantly 
active throughout the war. Afterwai'd he held command of one of the great 
military divisions, and he succeeded Grant in 1P09 as general of the army. 
He died February 14, 1891. He wrote his own memoirs. 



THE WAR FOR THE UNION. 



351 




William Tecnmseli Sherman. 

The siege was begun early in June. Tn July, to loosen 
Grant's hold on Petersburg, General Lee sent General Early 
upon a dashing raid into Maryland and Pennsylvania, 
with the hope even that he might get possession of {334/ 
Washington. The chief result was the burning of 
Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, and the capture of a quantity of 
supplies. When General Early retired up the Shenandoah 
Valley, he was followed by General Sheridan, who defeated him 



352 



DEVELOPMENT OP THE UNION. 



at Winchester, and drove him beyond Cedar Creek. General 
Early then turned upon his adversary, and recovered his 
position. Sheridan was absent when this battle was fought 
but, getting intelligence of it, rode rapidly up the valley, ral- 
lied his men, and turned defeat into victory.^ 

206. Naval Operations. — During the summer of 1864 the navy 
was attempting to blockade the Southern ports more effectu- 
ally, and to meet the 
cruisers which were 
inflicting great dam- 
age on American com- 
merce. Great relief 




MAP OY THE PENINSULA, ETC., 

BETWEEN NORFOLK AND RICHMOND. 
Scale of 20 MiJcs 







Isle of Wight ^•^ /^^v , 

was felt when the Kearsarge, ^-^'^" > - 
Captain Winslow, attacked the 
Alabama, Captain Semmes, in 

the English Channel, 
1864 ^"^ ^^rik her. Admiral Farragut, accompanied by 

land forces, captured the forts which commanded the 
entrance to Mobile Bay, and destroyed the Confederate iron- 
clad Tennessee. The Confederate ram Albemarle, also, which 
lay in Eoanoke River, was blown up by a torpedo which was 
affixed to it by a courageous sailor, Lieutenant Gushing. 



1 Read T. Buchanan Read's spirited poem, " Sheridan's Ride.' 



THE WAR FOR THE UNION. 353 

207. The Western campaign in 1864 began at the same time 
as Grant's movements in Virginia. General Sherman began 
to move from Chattanooga toward Atlanta. Before 

him lay a Confederate army nnder command of Gen- 1S4' 
eral Joseph E. Johnston ; but Sherman, avoiding a 
direct engagement, gradually pressed his opponent back to the 
fortifications of Atlanta. The Confederate government re- 
moved General Johnston, and gave the command to General 
Hood, who at once made an attack upon Sherman. But Sher- 
man changed his position, and took Atlanta, which Hood had 
left. 

The two armies, had, as it were, exchanged places ; and 
Hood, instead of assaulting the city, undertook to cut off Sher- 
man from the railroads which brought supplies to his army. 
Sherman now detached a portion of his army, placed it under 
General George H. Thomas, and sent it against Hood, while 
he himself prepared to march southward through Georgia 
to the coast. 

The Battle of Nashville. — Hood meanw^^hile aimed at the 
capture of Nashville. On the way he attacked General Schofield 
at Franklin, and suffered a loss, but he kept on, and 
laid siege to Nashville. While Hood was thus en- -,°Jg, ' 
gaged. General Thomas attacked him, and fought a 
battle which lasted for two days, and resulted in a severe 
defeat of the Confederates. Hood's army w^as unable to rally, 
and was scattered over the country. For the first time in the 
war a campaign had ended in the destruction of an army. 

208. Sherman's March to the Sea. — Five days later, Sher- 
man's army entered Savannah. He had started from Atlanta 
in the middle of November, cut loose from his base of 
supplies, and marched, without meeting any armed -.gg^ ' 
opposition, to the seaboard. For a month, rumors only 

of his whereabouts reached the ears of the people at the North. 
The people at the South knew well where he was; for in his 
march to the sea his army and followers had left a broad path 
of desolation. At Savannah he was in communication with 



354 DEVELOPMENT OF' THE UNION. 

the Union fleet, and sent word that the Confederacy was nothing 
but a shell, and that he was ready with his victorious army to 
march northward.^ 

209. Sherman's March Northward. — Upon the first day of 
February, 1865, Sherman began his northward march. The 
military support of the Confederacy now rested on the army 
which Lee commanded within the intrenchments of R,ichmond 
and Petersburg, and on the remnant of the Western forces, 
with which General Johnston was trying to check Sherman's 
advance. On the 17th of February Sherman captured Columbia, 
South Carolina. 

It was now impossible for the Confederates to hold Charles- 
ton, and they evacuated it therefore the same day. Fort Sum- 
ter had been pounded to ruins, the April before, by continual 
bombardment from batteries erected by the Union forces ; but 
Charleston had not then been taken. As he moved northward, 
Sherman encountered Johnston's forces in North Carolina. 
The Union army, however, was superior in numbers ; and when 
Sherman entered Goldsboro on the 23d of March, Johnston 
retired to Raleigh. 

210. The Capture of Richmond. — Sherman pushed on after 
him; but events in Virginia were fast rendering a contest in 
North Carolina unnecessary. Sheridan had led a column of 
cavalry up the Shenandoah Valley, and thence down the James 
River. He did all the mischief he could on the way, and 
joined the main army in front of Petersburg. Grant had 

already ordered a forward movement against Lee, 

^nnc ' who made one desperate attempt to break the center 

of the Union lines at Fort Steadman, intending under 

cover of the attack to withdraw his forces. The effort failed. 

Three days later, Sheridan attacked Lee. at Five 

1865 ' ^^^'^S' ^"^^ ^^^s victorious. Grant at once carried his 

army within the lines of the Petersburg defenses. Lee 

retreated with the purpose of bringing his forces and Johnston's 

1 For a detailed account of this campaign see General J. D. Cox's The 
March to the Sea : Franklin and Nashville, in Campaigns of the Civil War. 



THE WAR FOR THE UNION. 855 

together for a final stand, while the advance guard of the Union 
army entered Richmond, April 2. Jefferson Davis and other 
officers of the Confederate government had hastily fled ; and 
Lee was using every effort to effect a junction with Johnston. 
But the Union army, elated and well supplied, bore down upon 
the hopeless retreating column. On the 9th of April General 
Lee surrendered to General Grant at Appomattox Court House. 

211. The End of the War. — The news was received with an 
outburst of joy at the North. President Lincoln had been 
reelected in 1864, and on the 4th of March, 1865, had begun 
his second term. At that time the end of the struggle was 
plainly near, and the President, in his Inaugural Address, had 
already given expression to the hope of the country that there 
would be a reconciliation between the two sections. '' With 
malice toward none ; " he said, " with charity for all ; with firm- 
ness in the right, as God gives us to see the right, let us strive 
on to finish the work we are in ; to bind up the nation's wounds ; 
to care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his 
widow and his orphan — to do all which may achieve and 
cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves, and with 
all nations." 

Immediately after the fall of Eichmond, President Lincoln 
visited the Confederate capital, and walked with his little son 
along the desolate streets. He had been weighed down with 
anxiety and grief at the war, and looked with eagerness for the 
close. He appointed a day of thanksgiving for the end of the 
war. It was to be the day on which, just four years before, 
Fort Sumter had been attacked ; and a party went to Charles- 
ton, where General Anderson again raised the flag over the 
ruined fort. 

212. The Assassination of Lincoln. — In the midst of the 
rejoicing, a terrible event occurred. The President had gone 
to the theater in Washington on the evening of April 14, and 
was seated in a box overlooking the stage, when an assassin^ 

1 The assassin was an actor, Wilkes Booth, M'ho was one of the Virginia 
soldiers who were on duty at the execution of John Brown, Booth was shot 



356 DEVELOPMENT OF THE UNION. 

shot him through the head, leaped over the railing upon the 
stage, and, shouting " Sic semper Tyrannis," rushed out of 
the building. At the same time another assassin attempted to 
murder Secretary Seward, who was ill at home, and wounded 
him seriously, but not fatally. There had been a plot, at this 
time of the downfall of the Confederacy, to pull down the 
leaders of the nation ; but it was the plot of only a few men, 
who perished miserably. 

The President lingered a few hours, but gave no sign of con- 
sciousness before his death. The assassin had shouted the 
motto on the Virginia coat-of-arms, but no word could have 
been worse suited to Abraham Lincoln than the word " tyrant." 
In the four years of his service he had shown himself to be the 
elder brother of the people, as Washington had been the father. 
The people had learned to love and trust him. He listened to 
every one, and was slow in making up his mind ; but that was 
because he wished to be clearly in the right. No one who was 
in trouble came to him without receiving help if he could give it. 
He thought always of his country, and never of his own 
fame.^ 

The joy of the nation was turned into deepest mourning. In 
every town almost every house hung out some sign of woe. The 
grief was scarcely lessened by the surrender, on the 26th of 
April, of General Johnston to General Sherman. On the 10th 
of May, Jefferson Davis w^as captured.^ With its armies sur- 
rendered, and the head of its government in prison, the Con- 
federacy came to an end. 

213. The Soldiers and Sailors of the Union. — On the 22d and 
23d of May, a grand review of the Armies of the Potomac, 

a fortnight later near Bowling Green, Virginia, by Sergeant Boston Corbett, 
who, with a company of men, was hunting for him; and on the 7th of July 
three men and a woman were executed for complicity in the assassination. 
1 See Walt Whitman's moving dirge, " My Captain! O My Captain! " 
'^ Jefferson Davis was captured near Irwinsville, Georgia ; he was imprisoned 
in Fortress Monroe from ISHS to 1867 ; he received an amnesty from the gov- 
ernment in l.S<;8. He wrote his memoirs in the last years of his life, and died 
December 6, 1889. 



THE WAR FOR THE UNION. 357 

Tennessee, and Georgia was held in Washington, and then in 
companies and singly the veterans of the war returned to their 
homes. On the 15th of April, the Military Order of the Loyal 
Legion had been organized by officers and ex-officers of the 
army, navy, and marine corps.^ Membership descends to the 
eldest direct male lineal descendant. In the winter of 1865- 
1866 the Grand Army of the Republic, composed of soldiers 
who served in the war, was organized at Springfield, Illinois, 
and " posts " are established throughout the Northern States. 
At these posts, memories of the war are preserved, and care 
extended to those who are disabled and to their families. A 
national encampment is held annually.^ 

The care taken, by the nation, of these soldiers and their 
families has been unstinted. Homes for those without other 
homes have been established in different parts of the country ; 
preference has been given to soldiers in the public service, and 
a comprehensive pension list is an annual charge upon the 
income of the nation.'' 

The respect paid to the memory of the dead is witnessed to 
by the yearly observance on the 30th of May of the custom of 
decorating the graves of soldiers ; ^ by the numberless monu- 
ments, including many noble buildings devoted to public uses, 
such as libraries, hospitals, and halls ; and by the multitude of 
books and poems which record, for the inspiration of the young, 
the deeds of the brave soldiers and sailors.^ 



1 In 1897 there were twenty commanderies, each representing a State, and 
one the District of Columbia, and a total membership of 8888. 

2 The number of posts, June 30, 1896, was 7302, with 340,610 members. 

3 The number of pensioners upon the rolls, June 30, 1896, was 970,678. This 
number covers all previous wars, including even seven widows of Revolu- 
tionary soldiers. The payment of pensions at the same date amounted to 
$137,466,805.03. Apparently the pension outlay touched the highest point in 
1893, when it was $158,155,342.51. 

4 This custom originated with Southern women, and was taken up about 
1868 by the Grand Army. 

5 One of the most dignified of these memorials is the Memorial Hall of Har- 
vard University, with its tablets and flags. Read Lowell's famous Ode recited 
at the Harvard Commemoration, July 21, 1865. 

2c 



358 DEVELOPMENT OF THE UNION. 



QUESTIONS. 

What action did Congress take looking to the peaceful occupation of 
the country? What was the financial situation? What are "green- 
backs " ? When did President Lincoln issue the Emancipation Proclama- 
tion ? What was the immediate effect ? Narrate the incident which led 
up to the battle of Gettysburg. What was the significance of the battle ? 
Describe the movements in the West in the summer of 18G3. When was 
Grant made lieutenant general ? Describe the operations in Virginia in 
the spring of 1864. What was Sheridan's ride ? Where and by whom 
was the Alabama destroyed ? Name the other naval successes. Describe 
the events which led up to Sherman's march to the sea. What was that 
march ? Narrate Sherman's movements after leaving Savannah, Give 
the events connected with the fall of Richmond. What words did Presi- 
dent Lincoln use in his second inaugural? Give the facts of the assassi- 
nation of the President. What is the Loyal Legion ? the Grand Army ? 

SEARCH QUESTIONS. 

What was Pickett's charge ? What and vv^here was Libby Prison ? 
Andersonville ? How does the Loyal Legion compare with the order of 
the Cincinnati ? Why does it fail to excite the alarm caused by the 
Revolutionary order ? Name the soldiers' monuments you have seen. 

SUGGESTIONS FOR LITERARY TREATMENT. 

Compositions : 

The story of Barbara Frietchie. 

Memorial Day. 

Sherman's march through Georgia. 

The general of the war whom I most admire. 

A comparison of Washington and Lincoln. 

The Emancipation Proclamation and its results. 

Life of a soldier in the war ; his pay, rations, etc. 

Debates : 

Besolved, That Jefferson Davis should have been tried for treason. 
Resolved, That the victories of peace surpass the glories of the battle- 
field. 




THE 

UNITED STATES 

OF AMERICA 

SCALE OF. STATUTE MILE S 

" 100 200 300 



Lon gitude 



Washington 



West East 



L 



CHAPTER XXIV. 

RECONSTUUCTION. 

214. The Cost of the War. — General Grant, when arranging 
with General Lee the terms upon which the Confederate army 
should surrender, proposed that the soldiers who had horses 
should retain them. He said the men would " need them 
for the spring plowing and farm work." The first wish of 
those who had been most prominent in putting down the 
Confederacy was that the Union should be restored as quickly 
as possible to its former state, with the exception of slavery. 
They desired that the armies should be disbanded, and that the 
men who had been withdrawn from their homes and industry 
should return to their old life. 

For four years a large part of the strength of the nation had 
gone into fighting, and the war had caused a terrible loss of 
life and property. Probably a million Americans perished in 
battle, or from wounds and disease induced by the war. It 
has been estimated that the war for the Union, exclusive of 
pensions, cost the nation not less than ten thousand million 
dollars, and every year still sees vast sums expended on pen- 
sions. We rightly measure the value of a possession by what 
it has cost us, and the nation preserved at such a cost of men 
and money becomes of precious worth. 

215. The Return of the States into the Union. — With the close 
of the war the government which had been organized as the 
Confederate States of America came to an end, but the separate 
States which had formed the Confederacy, each had its govern- 
ment. Since the people of these States, however, had origi- 
nally claimed the right of a State to secede from the Union, and 

359 



360 DEVELOPMENT OF THE UNION. 

had fought for that right, they could not now, when the fight 
had gone against them, come back into the Union by their own 
wilh That would have established the right which they failed 
to establish by war. The right of a State to secede had been 
submitted to the arbitrament of war, and the decision had 
been given in the negative. 

On the other hand, President Lincoln and those who held 
with him were very eager to restore the Union in the seceding 
States as fast as possible. Accordingly, proclamation was made 
in December, 1863, that in any such State, as soon as one tenth 
of the voters of 1860 should have taken an oath to " support, 
protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States, and 
the Union of the States thereunder," and furthermore, should 
support the acts of Congress made during the war with refer- 
ence to slavery, the President would recognize the State gov- 
ernment they set up. Arkansas had already acted on this plan, 
and in 1864, Mr. Lincoln recognized similar governments in 
Louisiana and Tennessee. But his proclamation governed the 
Executive only ; Congress would not yet receive representatives 
from these States. 

216. Legislation in the Interest of the Freedmen. — Upon the 
death of Lincoln, Andrew Johnson ^ of Tennessee, who had 
been elected Vice President, became President. He had been 
selected by the Republican party as representing the Union 
men of the South. He was not, however, in full sympathy 
with the Republicans ; and it soon became evident that there 
was a breach between the President and Congress, which con- 
stantly widened. The war had been fought to preserve the 

1 Andrew Johnson was born in Raleigh, North Carolina, December 20, 1808. 
So poor was he in his youth and so humble his surroundings that not till he 
was serving an apprenticeship to a tailor did he learn to read, and his wife, 
after he was married, taught him to write and cipher. But he had a strong 
mind and was active in political affairs. He settled in Greenville, Tennessee, 
and organized a workingman's party. He held local office, was elected to 
the State Legislature, and in 1843 was sent to Congress. He served in the 
House of Representatives for ten years. In ISHS he was elected governor of 
Tennessee, and in 18^7 he became United States senator. Ho was again 
elected senator in January, 1875, but died July 31 of the same yecir. 



RECONSTR UCTION. 



361 



Union, but it had also, necessarily, been a war to extinguish 
the system of slavery. There was, therefore, a strong senti- 
ment at the North against any restoration of the Union which 
should leave the blacks in the power of their former masters. 
A State in the Union could pass many laws which would 
practically prevent the freedmen from having any voice in the 
government or from securing full protection under the law. 

Before the war was 
over and before any 
State had been received 
back. Congress had 
passed the Thirteenth 
Amendment to the Con- 
stitution, forever forbid- 
ding slavery in 
the land. A ^f^^^^^ 
year later it 
passed a bill creating 
what was known as the 
Freedmen's Bureau, a 
department of the gov- 
ernment intended to 
provide for the needs 
of the blacks, who, it 
was said, were the wards 
of the nation. The Pres- 
ident returned the bill 
to Congress without his signature, on the ground that it was an 
interference with the rights of the States in which 
the freedmen lived. When the President refuses to log?^' 
sign a bill, he is said to veto ^ it, and the bill thus 
vetoed does not become a law unless, on its return to Con- 
gress, two thirds of the members of each House vote to pass 
it in spite of the President's veto. The Freedmen's Bureau 
Bill was thus passed over the President's veto. 
1 From the Latin word veto, I forbid. 




Andrew Johnson, 



3G2 DEVELOPMENT OF*TUE UNION. 

Civil Rights Bill. — Congress then passed a Civil Rights 

Bill, by which freednien were made citizens of the United 

States. United States officers were instructed to pro- 

iRRfi' *^^^ them in the exercise of their rights in the courts. 
The President vetoed this bill also, but Congress 
passed it over the veto. To make the bill stronger, Congress 
adopted the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution, and 
submitted it to the States, which ratified it. Later still the 
Fifteenth Amendment was adopted, by which the right to 
vote was given to the freedmen. By these amendments the 
people gave to the former slaves all the legal rights which 
white citizens held. 

The President disapproved of these measures, and there was 
now open hostility between him and Congress. Congress, 
growing more positive, passed over the President's veto what is 
known as the Tenure of Office Bill. By this bill the President 
could not remove any public officer without the consent of the 
Senate. On the same day a bill was passed, also over 

Ififi? ' ^^^® President's veto, by which Congress provided for 
a system of government over the States which had 
formed the Confederacy. It was, in effect, a military govern- 
ment. Each State was to remain under it until it ratified the 
Fourteenth Amendment and formed a constitution which se- 
cured the lights of the freedmen. 

217. The practical working of this plan was not satisfactory. 
It w^as not in accordance with the spirit of American local self- 
government. The most influential men at the South took no 
part in this reconstruction. They had been officers in the 
Confederacy, and could not or would not take the oath of 
allegiance to the United States. Many refused to act, because 
they did not believe they were free to obey their convictions. 
They were, they said, under military government. When the 
Confederacy broke up, many men who had been prominent in 
it left the country to seek their fortune in Europe or South 
America. Families were scattered, great estates were no 
longer cultivated, and many who had lived in luxury were 



RECONSTRUCTION. 3G3 

impoverished. With no slaves, they no longer had the same 
means of subsistence. 

As a rule, the freednien knew little about the meaning of a 
vote. They had come out of slavery, which never trained them 
to be citizens. Many were anxious to learn to read and write; 
many were eager to earn their living; but great multitudes 
were ignorant, bewildered, and easily influenced. 

New People in the South. — At the same time many persons 
from the North made their way into the ruined States. Some 
were soldiers who had been attracted during the war by the 
rich soil of the country, and wished to make their homes there. 
But the conditions were not favorable. The wounds mad« by 
the war were too fresh, and the people of the two parts of the 
country were not yet ready to be good neighbors. The best 
work in peacemaking was done by tliose who assisted in reviv- 
ing the agricultural industries of the South, and in developing 
the great natural resources ; and by the noble men and women 
who devoted themselves to the education of the blacks.^ 

The most mischievous men who entered the South at this 
time were adventurers, who thought it an excellent opportunity 
to make their fortunes and acquire political power. They 
easily obtained an influence over the freedmen. They were 
active, and the native Southern whites kept aloof from politics. 
The government of the States was thus often brought into dis- 
repute. Men exercised official power who had no regard for 
the welfare of the State, but simply looked out for their own 
advantage. The conduct of the State governments brought 
such evils that the Southern whites began to combine to 
recover political power. A period almost of anarchy followed, 
in which each side used every means to obtain and keep the 

1 No history of this period should overlook the work done hy such men as 
General Samuel Chapman Armstrong, who had served honorably in the war, 
and on its close devoted himself with untiring zeal to the training of the negro, 
and afterward the Indian, in -the industrial and normal school at Hampton, 
Virginia. The example there set bore fruit in the remarkable work of the 
same kind carried on at Tuskegee, Alabama, by Booker T. Washington, him- 
self of negro blood. 



364 DEVELOPMENT OF THE UNION. 

supremacy. Gradually, however, the political autnority re- 
turned to the class which had held it before the war. 

218. The Impeachment of the President. — The quarrei be- 
tween Congress and the President ended at last in the im- 
peachment of the President by the House of Representatives. 
He was tried before the Senate, as the Constitution provides. 
The charges brought against him were mainly on account of 
offenses which he was said to have committed against the 
Tenure of Office Act. The chief charge was that he had 
removed the Secretary of War, E. M. Stanton, without the 
consent of the Senate. The trial occurred near the close of 
Mr. Johnson's term of office. 

The party which had elected him was now thoroughly op- 
posed to him, and the impeachment showed its anger. The 
trial lasted two months, and then was abandoned after a vote 
had been taken which showed that it was impossible to secure 
conviction. The most important effects of this four years' 
quarrel were two : first, while the South was left in confusion, 
people became accustomed to seeing affairs which formerly 
were managed by the States, now controlled by Congress ; 
secondly, the authority of Congress was increased, while that 
of the President was diminished. 

219. Grant's Administration. — General Grant was now the 
most conspicuous man in the country. He was the general 
who had achieved the final victory in the war, and he had 
shown firmness and prudence when President Johnson had 

made him Secretary of War, after removing Mr. 

1 QRQ 

Stanton. He was nominated for the Presidency by 
the Republican party, and elected by a large majority. 
President Grant held the office eight years. At his first 
election seven of the Southern States had complied with the 
acts of Congress, and had been readmitted into the Union. 
By January 30, 1871, the last of the eleven States which had 
seceded was again represented in Congress. 

220. Industrial Reconstruction. — While the country was en- 
gaged thus in readjusting its political relations the real recon- 



RECONSTRUCTION. 365 

stmction was going on silently through the industrial activity 
of all parts of the Union. Besides West Virginia, another 
State was added to the Union during the war, — Nevada in 
1864. The first added after the war was Nebraska in 1867. 
A great increase of territory was effected in the same year by 
the purchase of Alaska from Russia, for a little more than 
seven million dollars. 

In 1869 the first of the great railways was finished which 
connected the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, and opened the far 
Western country to travel and settlement. One effect of the 
railway was to bring many persons into Utah who were not 
identified with the Mormon church. They became permanent 
citizens of the territory, were engaged in opening up the rich 
silver mines which abound in the mountains of that region, and 
contributed largely to the development of the natural resources 
of the territory. 

The Atlantic Cable and Increased Immigration. — In 1866, a 
previous attempt in 1858 having failed, a telegraphic cable 
was laid upon the bed of the Atlantic between America and 
Europe. This cable was followed by others ; but a closer con- 
nection between the United States and the Old World than 
any effected by the telegraph is formed by the constant 
passage back and forth of people. With the close of 
the war, immigration, which had suffered a check, increased 
rapidly. From 1871 to 1880 nearly three millions, and from 
1881 to 1890, more than five millions, of people migrated to the 
United States. During the decade ending in 1900, nearly four 
millions of immigrants came to swell the population of the 
country. Since the year 1789, when the Constitution went 
into effect, the United States has absorbed an alien population 
of over twenty millions.^ 

221. International Relations. — In 1862 the Emperor of France, 
Napoleon III., attempted to establish in Mexico a foreign gov- 
ernment under Maximilian, an Austrian archduke. He sent 

1 The chief nationalities from which this miohty host has come are British, 
German, Scandinavian, Italian, Hungarian, and Russian. 



366 



DEVELOPME]SlT OF THE UNION. 




Laying the First Atlantic Cable. 

a French army for the purpose of supporting him. The United 
States protested against this interference of a European power 
in American affairs, and immediately after the war, began to 
mass troops on the Mexican border. Thereupon Napoleon 
abandoned his attempt, but Maximilian remained, was 
seized by the Mexicans, and executed. The incident 
was held to be significant of the force of the Monroe Doctrine. 
The Treaty of Washington. — But a more notable exhibition 
of international relations was in the treaty of Washington, 
concluded with Great Britain, May 5, 1871. This important 
document marked a great advance in the position of the 
United States among the nations of the world, and bound 
more securely together the two great English-speaking peoples. 
The fact of its being signed in the United States was in itself 
a witness to the dignity of the nation, but most noticeable was 



RECONSTRUCTION. 3G7 

the substitution of friendly arbitration of great disputes for a 
settlement by war. 

The United States thought it had just cause against Great 
Britain for the injury done its shipping during the war by Con- 
federate cruisers fitted out in the ports of Great Britain. The 
most mischievous of these cruisers was the Alabama, and by the 
treaty the " Alabama claims," as they were called, were sub- 
mitted to a board of commissioners from five friendly nations, 
which met at Geneva, Switzerland, in 1872, and agreed that 
Great Britain should pay the United States the sum of fifteen 
and a half million dollars. Great Britain honorably and 
promptly paid the sum. The treaty of Washington also made 
provision for the final settlement of all disputes concerning 
boundaries between the United States and Great Britain.^ 

222. Discovery of Petroleum. — During the period of recon- 
struction, the country was developing rapidly in all forms of 
industry, but one new and very important source of wealth 
was added. Before 1859, there had been factories for distill- 
ing oil from coal, but in August of that year an artesian well 
was sunk near Titus ville, Pennsylvania, and when it reached 
the depth of seventy feet, natural oil began to rise to the sur- 
face and to flow with great rapidity. Artificial distillation of 
oil now ceased, when the great reservoir of oil beneath the 
surface could thus be tapped. After the war, there was a very 
great increase of borings, not only in Pennsylvania, but in States 
farther west, until petroleum became a great commercial com- 
modity, especially in its refined form, known as kerosene. 

223. The Chicago Fire. — The same period witnessed a terrible 
disaster in a great fire at Chicago, when nearly three 

and a third square miles of the city were burned over, -. g^-. 

nearly one hundred thousand persons made homeless, 

and nearly three hundred millions of property was lost. But 

1 The effect of the arbitration at Geneva upon international relations has 
been very marked. A writer in The Internat/oiml Journal of Etltlcs for 
October, 1896, points out sixteen cases of such arbitration between 1881 and 
1893. 



368 DEVELOPMENT OF*THE UNION. 

the sympathy of the rest of the country and the energy and 
hope of the people of Chicago quickly repaired the waste 
and started the city upon a wonderful period of growth. 

224. Important Acts of Congress. — There were also during 
this period certain political acts which have significance in 
their bearing on current public affairs. In 1867, the order of 
Grangers or Patrons of Husbandry was founded in Washing- 
ton, with the chief purpose of agitating to secure better trans- 
portation and lower freight rates. The number of members 
increased so rapidly that in 1875 they numbered a million 
and a half, chiefly in the Western and Southern States. The 
agitation thus begun was one of the causes which led to the 
passage of the Interstate Commerce Act in 1887. 

Another act of Congress, dating from the time of the war, 
gave grants of public land to the several States and 

1862* ^^^^i^o^i^s Avhich should provide colleges for in- 
struction in branches of learning bearing on agricul- 
ture and the mechanic arts. Twenty-five years later by an 
additional act provision was made by Congress for 

1887 ' y^^^^y appropriation to the several States for scientific 
investigation. 

Civil Service Reform. — The most far-reaching political change 
introduced in this period was the reform of the civil service. In 
1865, and for six successive years, Mr. Jenckes, a representative 
from K/hode Island, introduced a bill in the House to regulate 
the civil service of the United States. In 1871, a civil service 
commission was appointed to draw up rules for such regula- 
tion ; the popular demand for this reform was recognized by 
Congress in 1883 by the passage of the Pendleton Civil Ser- 
vice Bill. The nation, the several States, and many of the 
cities and towns have come slowly to recognize the principle 
that the civil service, like the army and navy, should be 
administered without regard to the party preference of those 
employed. 



RECONSTR UCTION. 369 



QUESTIONS. 



What course did General Grant pursue to make peace at once effective ? 
What was the cost of the war in men and money ? What question was 
settled by the war ? What steps did Lincoln take to recover the States ? 
How were the f reedmen regarded ? What was the Thirteenth Amendment ? 
the Fourteenth ? the Fifteenth ? Narrate the steps by which Congress car- 
ried its plan of reconstruction as against the President. What stood in 
the way of genuine reconstruction ? What discordant element entered 
Southern life ? Narrate the incidents of the impeachment of the President. 
What was the progress of reunion under Grant's administration ? Note 
some of uhe signs of the strengthening of the Union in new States ; in the 
building of railways ; in immigration. What attempt was made by the 
French to occupy Mexico ? What was the treaty of Washington ? How 
were the Alabama claims adjusted? What new source of wealth was 
discovered ? AVhat disaster befell Chicago ? Explain the name Grangers. 
What acts of Congress were designed to aid education? Narrate the 
beginnings of Civil Service Reform. 



SEARCH QUESTION. 

What were the indirect damages claimed in the Alabama case? 

SUGGESTIONS FOR LITERARY TREATMENT. 

Compositions : 

The purchase of Alaska. 

How Cyrus Field laid the cable. 

Debates : 

Resolved^ That the impeachment of Andrew Johnson was uncalled for. 

Resolved, That the Civil Service should be divorced from politics. 

Resolved, That interference by the United States in 1867 in Mexican 
affairs was unjustifiable. 

Resolved, That arbitration should be employed to settle all disputes 
between nations. 



CHAPTER XXV. 

AFTER THE CENTENNIAL YEAR. 
Sioux (sou). Bartholdi (bar-tol'di). Oklahoma (ok-la-ho'-ma). 

225. The Centennial of the Union. — History is an account of 
what has happened in former days, so written as to show not 
only what truly happened, but if possible how and why it 
happened, and what followed in consequence. But in the 
history of a great nation it is not easy to understand the 
full meaning of what has happened recently. A good place 
at which to stop our history is the close of the hrst century 
of the republic. After that, history becomes annals ; that is, 
we relate year by year the important events, which some day 
will take their place and be fully explained in history. 

In 1876, a hundred years had passed since the stirring 
days when the English colonies in America had maintained 
their rights under English law, and had finally declared and 
achieved their independence. Each of the steps toward inde- 
pendence was celebrated when its hundredth anniversary came 
round. The spilling of the tea in Boston harbor, the fights 
at Lexington and Concord, the battle of Bunker Hill, the 
assumption by Washington of the command of the American 
army, and other important events were recalled and celebrated. 
The centennial year of independence was made memorable by 
a great international exhibition at Philadelphia. A new State, 
also, Colorado,^ was added to the Union in 1876. 

The year will be remembered also as the one in which the 
first public exhibition was made of the telephone, by the in- 

1 A Spanish name given to the Colorado River because of its deep color. 

370 



AFTER THE CENTENNIAL YEAR. 



871 




Thomas Alva Edison.^ 

1 Thomas Alva Edison was born at Milan, Ohio, February 11, 1847, but the 
family soon alter moved to Port Huron, Michigan. He had to earn his living 
from early boyhood, and was a train boy on a railroad. A station master, 
whose child's life Edison had saved, taught the boy telegraphy, and in this art 
Edison quickly became an expert. In 18B8 he chanced to be in New York 
when the indicator of a gold and stock company was broken, and he not only 
repaired it, but in doing so str.uck out a new invention, the printing telegraph. 
He sold his invention in 1876 and established himself at Menlo Park, New 
Jersey, where he built workshops for carrying out experiments in the appli- 
cation of electricity. It would take a very long paragraph even to name the 
devices and inventions which have followed, the most far-reaching being, 
perhaps, his system of electric lighting, his microphone, and the phonograph. 



372 DEVELOPMENT OF iTHE UNION. 

ventor whose name is most closely identified with it, Alex- 
ander Graham Bell. During the last quarter of the 

2g7g ' nineteenth century marvelous progress was made in 
the application of electricity to lighting, transporta- 
tion, and the various uses of life. Many of the most important 
of these appliances were the work of American electricians, 
as Bell, Brush, Dolbear, Edison, Farmer, and Gray. 

226. The Sioux War. — While the Union, at peace with 
foreign nations, was celebrating its independence of Europe, 
a war broke out on the Western frontier. The Indians had 
risen, and the nation was reminded of that dispute with the 
natives of the soil which had begun with the first settlement 
of the country and had never been long at rest. The Sioux 
Indians had ceded to the United States a large tract of country 
in what was formerly Dakota Territory. They had reserved 
to themselves the district known as the Black Hills ; but when 
it was rumored that gold had been found on their reservation, 
white men began to push in, regardless of the promise which 
the government had made to the Indians. 

Much of the discontent of the Indians had been caused by the 
swindling they had suffered at the hands of agents. What was 
known as the Indian ring, a corrupt body of men, had acquired 
control of the distribution of the goods which the government, 
by its agreement, bestowed on the Indians in the several reser- 
vations. The Sioux are a warlike tribe, and they retaliated by 
attacking the frontier settlements in Montana and Wyoming.. 
United States troops were sent out against them, but met 
at first with terrible disaster. General Custer,^ with about 

1 George Armstrong Custer, a brilliant cavalry officer, was born at New 
Rumley, Ohio, December 5, 18:!9. He graduated at AVest Point, in 1801, and 
at once engaged In active service, being in the Bull Run battle. Throughout 
the war, it is said, he never lost a gun or a flag, and captured more guns, 
flags, and prisoners than any other olificer not commanding an army. After 
the war he served on the frontier, and it -^as largely his reports of tlie fertility 
and mineral wealth of the Black Hills that stimulated the movement of popu- 
lation in that direction. See Longfellow's poem, "The Revenge of Rain-in- 
the-Face." 



AFTER THE CENTENNIAL YEAR. 



373 



two hundred and fifty soldiers, was surprised, and the entire 
force massacred. The war lasted into the winter of June 25, 
1877, when the Sioux, with their chiefs, Sitting Bull 1876. 
and Crazy Horse, went across the border into British terri- 
tory. 



227. The Electoral 
Commission. — The 

changes in the 
South, and the dis- 
satisfaction of many 
in the North with 
the rule of the Re- 
publican managers, 
were seen in the 
election of 1876. 
Rutherford B. 
Hayes, of Ohio, was 
the candidate of the 
Republican party, 
and Samuel J. Til- 
den, of iSTew York, 
of the Democratic 
party. So close was 
the vote that the George Armstrong Custer. 

decision of the election turned upon the way in which the 
votes of Louisiana, Florida, and Oregon should be counted. 
Both parties declared that they had carried these States ; but 
there had been so much political management to secure the 
votes that each party accused the other of dishonesty. 

It w^as finally agreed by Congress to refer the dispute to an 
Electoral Commission, composed of five senators, five repre- 
sentatives, and five justices of the Supreme Court. The result 
was the election of Mr. Hayes, and the end of the dispute 
was received with a sense of relief by the country. People 
were most concerned, not that Mr. Hayes or Mr. Tilden should 
be President, but that there should be a fair election. 

2 D 




374 



DEVELOPMENT OF THE UNION. 



One of the first acts of President Hayes's administration was 
to put an end to all supervision of elections at the South by 
United States troops. With the withdrawal of these troops 
disappeared the last sign of any distinction in the government 

between the States 
which had seceded in 
1861 and those which 
had remained loyal. 

228. Resumption of 
Specie Payments. — On 
January 1, 1879, the 
United States govern- 
ment and the national 
banks resumed specie 
payment. The country 
again carried on busi- 
ness upon the same 
footing as other na- 
tions. It was rapidly 
diminishing the debt 
incurred in the war for 
the Union. At the 
close of the war the 
national debt was more 
than twenty-eight hundred million dollars.^ When specie pay- 




Rutherford Birchard Hayes. 



1 The nineteenth President of the United States was born in Delaware, 
Ohio, October 4, 1822. He was graduated at Kenyon College, studied law at 
Harvard University, and began the practice of law at Marietta, Ohio, in 1845. 
He removed to Cincinnati in 1850, and was prominent in his profession there, 
at the breaking out of the war. He became a volunteer, and rose to the 
rank of brigadier general. He was wounded four times, and showed great 
bravery. He was a member of Congress after the war, and three several 
times was governor of Ohio. After retiring from the Presidency, he returned 
to private life, but continued to serve his country in important benevolent 
movements, especially interesting himself in the civilization of the Indian. 
He died at his home, Fremont, Ohio, January 17, 1893. 

2 The public debt reached its maximum August 31, 1865, on which day it 
amounted to $2,845,907,626.56. 



AFTER THE CENTENNIAL YEAR. 



375 



ments were resumed, more than nine himclred million dollars 
of the debt had been paid ; on November 1, 1900, the debt 
was still twenty-one hundred million dollars. 




James Abram Garfield. 

229. Assassination of Garfield. — President Hayes was suc- 
ceeded by James Abram Garfield,^ of Ohio, who had been a 

1 James Abram Garfield was born in Cuyahoga County, Ohio, November 19, 
1831. He was the youngest of four children, and his father died when he was 
but two years old. He grew up in poverty, but under the care of an heroic 



376 DEVELOPMENT of THE UNION. 

major general in the Union army, and a member of Congress 
since I860. He had held the office but four months when he 
was shot by a man who had been disappointed at failing to 
obtain an office under the administration. The President was 
not instantly killed. For three months he lay helpless, while 
the nation watched anxiously every turn in his condition. The 
sympathy shown by all parts of the country did much to draw 
the nation together and to lessen the old distrust. Garfield 
died September 19, 1881, and was succeeded by the Vice Presi- 
dent, Chester Alan Arthur.^ of New York. 

230. Events in Arthur's Administration. — Mr. Arthur was 
President until March 4, 1885. This administration is noted 
for three important political measures. In 1882, a bill was 
passed in Congress, known by the name of the senator who 
proposed it, the Edmunds Bill, which made polygamy in the 
territories illegal. In consequence, the Mormon church in 
Utah formally abolished polygamy, makiug the way clear for 
the admission of the territory into the Union as a State. In 
1882, a bill was passed prohibiting Chinese laborers from 

mother. He was eager for books and study, and also craved a life of adven- 
ture; but after some experience as a canal boy, he worked his way through 
preparatory schools, and spent two years at Williams College, where he was 
graduated in 1856. He took a position as instructor in Hiram College, Ohio, 
and also engaged in the study of law. He was deeply interested in politics, 
and in 1859 was elected to the Ohio Senate. He was given a commission as 
lieutenant colonel in the Ohio infantry, and saw much active service, being 
promoted rapidly, till he reached the rank of major general. In 1863 he 
entered Congress, and was nine times successively elected from his district. 
He made himself a leader in the House, and finally was chosen to the Senate, 
but before he could take his seat, he received the nomination for the Presi- 
dency. 

iThe father of President Arthur was a Baptist clergyman who came to 
this country from the north of Ireland, when he was eighteen. Chester Alan 
Arthur was born at Fairfield, Vermont, October 5, 1830. He was educated 
at Union College, and was admitted to the bar in 1853. He took active part 
in the formation of the Republican party, and during the war had charge 
of the preparation and equipment of the New York State troops. He was 
appointed to be collector of the port of New York in 1871, and in March, 1881, 
he took his seat as president of the Senate. He returned to private life after 
the expiration of his Presidential term, and died November 18, 1886. 



AFTER THE CENTENNIAL YEAR. 



377 



coming into the United States. The settlement of the Pacific 
coast had drawn many men from China. These have helped 
to build railroads, to work the mines, and to do many kinds of 
household labor, but they have rarely become citizens.^ In 
1884, the United States sent a representative to a conference 
of the great powers at 
Berlin respecting Africa, 
thus for the first thw 
taking part with Euro[ i 
in the adjustment f 
world politics. 

The postage on lett( is 
was reduced (1883) fr< 1 1 
three cents a half oui c 
to two cents; and st 11 
later (1885) the rate \\ 
made two cents an ount^. 
Many other improve- 
ments have since been 
made in the postal 
system, by which the 
government is able to 
serve the people better 
in their communication 
with one another.^ 

Death of General Grant. — On the 23d of July, 1885, Ulysses 
Simpson Grant died, the great general under whose leadership 
the war for the Union had been brought to a close. He had 
won the affection of his countrymen, and not only Northern 




Chester Alan Arthur. 



1 The act of 1882 was limited bj^ its terms to a period of ten years ; but 
similar laws were passed in 1892 and again in 1902, besides some other 
measures to make the exclusion of Chinese labor more easy and certain. 
The act of 1902 forbade Chinese laborers to come to the United States from 
any of our island possessions, or to move from one of our island groups to 
another. 

2 One of the most important is the rural free delivery system, which has 
developed from a small beginning made in 1896. 




Copyriglit, i>S'J7, by J. S. Julmstoii. 



The Tomb of Grant. 



178 



AFTER THE CENTENNIAL YEAR. 379 

but Southern soldiers mourned his loss. At his grave the 
country again stood united.^ 

231. Cleveland's First Administration. — In the election held in 
the autumn of 1884, the candidates of the Democratic party 
were chosen, and President Arthur was followed by Grover 
Cleveland, of Xew York. Within a year the Vice President, 
Thomas A. Hendricks, died ; and Congress, made 
mindful of the need of providing for the adminis- -/nog ' 
tration of the government, passed, not long after, a 
Presidential succession bill. By this law, if the President 
dies, and tliere is no Vice Presideut, the office of President is 
to be filled by a meinber of the President's Cabinet, — the 
Secretaiy of State, if that member is eligible to the presidency 
(Appendix p. 6) ; if not, then by the first who is eligible of the 
other Cabinet officers in a fixed order. 

In February, 1887; Congress enacted a bill, known as the 
Dawes bill from the name of the senator who introduced it, 
by which the President was authorized, through special agents, 
to allot lands in Indian reservations to individual Indians, in- 
stead of allowing the land to be held in common by the tribes. 
Under this and later laws, many Indians have become citizens, 
and taken their place in the nation like other Americans. 

In 1887 Congress passed what is known as the Interstate 
Commerce Act. It provided for the regulation of commerce 
between the several States, especially with reference to the 
railroads which connect the different parts of the country. 
The aim of this legislation was to check grave abuses in the 

1 After General Grant retired from the Presidency, lie made a tour around 
the world, and was everywhere received with the honors due his illustrious 
career. He made his home, finally, in New York city, and took an interest 
in a banking firm in which his son was a partner. He lost heavily in the 
business, and devoted the last years of his life to the production of his 
memoirs, a book which not only had a great popularity, but justly occupies a 
high position as a piece of literature. After his death, a subscription was 
raised for the building of a stately tomb on the Riverside Drive, in New 
York ; and the building was dedicated with great pomp, April 27, 1897, in the 
presence of the President of the United States and a great concourse of civil 
and military dignitaries. 



380 



DEVELOPMENT OF THE UNION 




Grover Cleveland.* 



1 Grover Cleveland was horn at Caldwell, New Jersey, March 18, 1837. He 
was the son of a Presbyterian clergyman, and for a while taught in an insti- 
tution for the blind. After his father's death, he studied law in Buffalo, was 
admitted to the bar in 1859, and in January, 1863, was appointed assistant 
district attorney for Erie County, an office which he held for three years. 
In 1870, he was elected sheriff of the county. He had attracted the attention 
of the i^eople of Buffalo, and in 1881, he was elected mayor of the city. His 
strong executive ability became apparent, and in 1882 he was elected governor 
of New York by a very large majority. Again his conspicuous ability as an 
administrator of public affairs was made evident, and he became the Demo- 
cratic candidate for the Presidency, at the election held in 1884. 



AFTER THE CENTENNIAL YEAH. 381 

management of railroads — especially unequal and unfair 
treatment of different patrons. A commission was appointed 
under the new law to hear complaints and settle disputes as to 
fair charges and service. 

Increase in the activities of the government is seen also in 
two other measures of this administration. In 1888 a Depart- 
inent (or Bureau) of Labor was established, for the purpose of 
acquiring and diffusing useful information concerning labor. 
The next year the Department (or Bureau) of Agriculture (firgt 
established in 1862) was reorganized as a full-fledged depart- 
ment, under the charge of a Secretary, who became a member 
of the President's Cabinet. This department, wliich looks 
after the interests of the great farming population, was thus 
given increased power and importance. 

232. Harrison's Administration. — At the election held in the 
autumn of 188S, the main issue was the protective tariff. Pres- 
ident Cleveland was renominated by the Democrats, on a plat- 
form upholding a tariff for revenue only ; but the Republican 
party, which favored the protective tariff, was victorious. Ben- 
jamin Harrison, of Indiana, was elected President, and Levi 
P. Morton, of New York, Vice President. The election was 
the first Presidential one conducted in any State under what 
has come to be known as the Australian ballot law,^ designed 
to compel a secret vote, and to secure the most intelligent ex- 
pression of the voter's choice. 

Oklahoma was originally a portion of Indian Territory and 
was sold by the Seminole Indians to the United States upon 
condition that only colonies of Indians or freedmen should be 
allowed to settle there. Congress, however, paid a large sum 
to secure entire right to the land, and in 1889 opened the 
country to white settlers. On the" day when the territory was 
opened to settlement, great multitudes had gathered on the 

1 The system was adopted in Australia as early as 1856, and was in use in 
Quebec and Nova Scotia in 1875. The first formal introduction of the system 
in the United States was in Michi.s:an in 1887. Within ten years all the terri- 
tories and nearly all the States adopted ballot-reform laws. 



382 



DEVELOPMENT OF THE UNION 




Benjamin Harrison. 



1 The new President was grandson of the former President Harrison, and 
was born at North Bend, Ohio, August 20, 1833. He was given the name of 
his grandfather's father, Benjamin Harrison, who was one of the signers of the 
Declaration of Independence. He was graduated at Miami University, in 
1852, and began the practice of law in Indianapolis. He became the colonel of 
an Indiana regiment in 1862, and rose to the rank of brigadier general. 
After the war, he returned to his profession, and in 1880 was elected to the 
Senate from Indiana. The political parties in the State were pretty evenly 
balanced, and he was defeated for reelection in 1885. He was a candidate 
for reelection to the Presidency, but was defeated, and retired to private life 
in 1893. He took active part in public affairs until his death, March 13, 1901. 



AFTER THE CENTENNIAL YEAR 383 

border ready to rush in and stake out claims under United 

States law, and so headlong was the rush that whereas, 

at noon, Guthrie was only a town site, at night- ■^?ppQ^' 

fall it was occupied by ten thousand inhabitants and 

had taken steps toward forming a city government. 

In the same year that Oklahoma was opened to settlement, 
four States were formed out of territories, — North Dakota, 
South Dakota, Washington, and Montana. In 1890, Idaho and 
Wyoming were added to the Union, and Oklahoma was given 
a territorial government. 

In accordance with the principles of the party in power.. 
Congress, in 1890, passed a bill popularly called, from the 
name of its chief promoter, the McKinley Tariff bill, which 
undertook, in a very elaborate series of sections, to revise the 
existing laws respecting duties on imports. 

The passage of the McKinley bill called out vigorous political 
discussion, and at the next congressional election, in the autumn 
of 1890, the Democratic party, which opposed the high protect- 
ive tariff, gained control of the national House of Representa- 
tives. In 1892, the same party was still further successful. 
It secured a majority in Congress, and again placed Grover 
Cleveland in the President's chair, electing him by a clear 
majority over both the Republican candidate and the candi- 
date of the People's Party, which carried several Western 
States. 

233. Cleveland's Second Administration. — Though both 
branches of the government were now controlled by the Demo- 
crats, it proved difficult to enact a tariff bill to enforce the 
principles of this party. A compromise measure was finally 
adopted which reduced the tariff somewhat. 

The Expositions in Chicago and Atlanta. — The four hundredth 
anniversary of the discovery of America was made the occa- 
sion for a great fair, the World's Columbian Exposition, which 
was held in 1893 in the city of Chicago, and was upon a larger 
scale than any world's fair ever before held. It was a sign 
of the great expansion of the country, and of the wide world 



38i DEVELOPMENT OF THE UNION 

relations, that such a fair was held in a city far away from the 
Atlantic coast, and that some of the most important contribu- 
tions to the exhibition came across the Pacific Ocean from Asia. 
Two years later, the Cotton States and International Exposi- 
tion was opened at Atlanta, Georgia ; it was especially success- 
ful in showing the great resources and industry of the South. 

International Arbitration and Venezuela. — The great exhibi- 
tions did much to make clear the growth of the United States, 
but a nation does not stand by itself, apart from other nations : 
it has a place in the world; it has duties and rights in common 
with other nations ; and as steam and electricity bring the 
continents nearer each other, the United States will have still 
more to do with Great Britain and its colonies, Germany and 
its colonies, Brazil, Japan, and China. Not only so, but the 
nation is sharing more and more with other nations in the 
decision of great questions of international politics. 

For many years the South American state, Venezuela, had a 

boundary dispute with the adjacent l^ritish possessions. The 

United States government endeavored in vain to bring the 

dispute to an end, and in 1895 President Cleveland ap- 

q' ' pointed a commission to determine the boundary, in 
order that the United States might act if it should 
prove that Great Britain was claiming more than belonged to 
her by right. The incident was taken on both sides of the 
Atlantic as an indication that, under the Monroe Doctrine, 
the United States will prevent European powers from ex- 
tending their territory in America under any pretext. After 
further debate. Great Britain and Venezuela made a treaty 
under which the boundary question was settled by a board of 
arbitration. The whole affair led to an earnest endeavor on 
the part of many Americans and Englishmen to establish the 
principle of arbitration in all international disputes. 

Utah was admitted as a State in 1896, after adopting a con- 
stitution forever prohibiting polygamy. 

234. The Election of McKinley. — In the general election of 
1896, the principal question at issue was the financial policy 



AFTER THE CENTENNIAL YEAR. 



385 








William McKinley.* 

1 The new President's name has already appeared as the member of Con- 
gress who was chairman of the Ways and Means Committee wliich reported 
the tariff bill of 1890. He was born at Niles, Trumbull County, Ohio, January 
29, 1843, and was still a student when the war for the Union occurred. He 
enlisted as a private soldier, was promoted through the several ranks till 
he was brevetted major for gallant and meritorious services at the battles of 
Opequan, Fisher's Hill, and Cedar Creek. After the w\ar, he returned to Ohio, 
studied law, and began practice in Canton. He was elected to Congress in 
1876, and served continuously until March, 1891, except for part of his fourth 
term, when he was unseated by his opponent. He was twice elected governor 
of Ohio. In 1900 he was re-elected president, but after a few months of service 
fell by the hand of an assassin, and died September 14, 1901. 



386 DEVELOPMENT OF T FIE UNION 

of the country. William J. Bryan, of Nebraska, was the can- 
didate of the Democratic and People's parties, which "de- 
manded the free and unlimited coinage of both silver and gold 
at the present legal ratio of 16 to 1, without waiting for the 
aid or consent of any other nation."^ William McKinley, of 
Ohio, was nominated by the Republican party, which main- 
tained that the true policy was to use gold as the standard 
of value, in accordance with the practice of the other great 
nations ; it was " opposed to the free coinage of silver, 
except by international agreement with the leading commer- 
cial nations of the world, which we pledge ourselves to pro- 
mote, and until such agreement can be obtained, the existing 
gold standard must be preserved." ^ Mr. McKinley was elected. 
235. Causes of the Spanish War. — The island of Cuba was 
settled by Spain in 1511. From the beginning Spain regarded 
the island as a source of revenue rather than as an integral 
part of the Spanish nation. By a system of taxation she 
sought to enrich herself at the expense of Cuba; and she sent 
a series of governors who, for the most part, made short stays, 
and returned wealthy. 



1 From the platform of the Democratic party. Under " free and unlimited " 
coinage, any one could take gold or silver to the mint and get for it an equal 
weight of coins; the "ratio of 16 to 1 " signifies that one pound of gold 
makes 16 times as many dollars as one pound of silver does. The Democrats 
thus favored a double standard of money, such as had existed in this country 
before 1873. Before 1873, gold bullion had been worth sometimes a little more, 
and sometimes a little less, than 16 times the same weight of silver. In 1873 
gold was the cheaper metal at this ratio, and therefore gold was the money 
in common use. By stopping the free coinage of silver, Congress then made 
gold the single standard of money. Later, for various reasons, the price of 
silver declined sharply. Efforts were made to restore the coinage of silver, 
but were only partly successful ; under the acts of 1878 and 1890 the govern- 
ment bought each month large amounts of silver at the market price. In 
1893 President Cleveland secured the repeal of this legislation. The silver 
was coined (both before and after 1893) into dollars which the government 
circulates at their face value, though the metal contained in them is worth 
much less. Our silver money is therefore intermediate in character between 
gold money and copper or paper money. 

2 From the platform of the Republican party. 



AFTER THE CENTENNIAL YEAR. 387 

The misery resulting from Spanish misgovernment led to a 
succession of revolts with breathing spells when Spain made 
some slight concessions. 

In 1895 a fresh and determined effort was made by Cuban 
leaders, especially Maximo Gomez, to force Spain to grant 
independence. The Spanish governor, General Weyler, met 
the attempt by measures of the most severe character. He 
undertook to concentrate non-combatants into the cities and 
then laid waste the surrounding country. This infuriated the 
Cubans without greatly diminishing their military strength, 
and caused the starvation of thousands of innocent people. 

The United States gave warning that her large interests in 
Cuba would make it impossible to suffer the disorders 
to continue. Spain then sent General Blanco as gov- , ^g„ ' 
ernor, with a new plan for the government of Cuba ; 
but the insurgents refused to accept the offer of " autonomy, " 
or self-government, under Spanish sovereignty. 

236. Outbreak of the Spanish War. — While people were won- 
dering what was to be done next, early in 1898, the United 
States battleship Maine, while at anchor in the harbor 
of Havana, was blown up, and many of her officers 1398,' 
and men were killed. A great cry arose at once from 
the people of the United States, and multitudes were ready to 
believe that the explosion was caused by Spanish officers in 
Havana. A Court of Inquiry was appointed, which found 
" that the ship was destroyed by the explosion of a submarine 
mine, which caused the partial explosion of two or more of 
her forward magazines, and that no evidence has been attain- 
able fixing the responsibility for the destruction of the Maine 
upon any person or persons." Meanwhile, Congress appropri- 
ated fifty million dollars to be used at the discretion of the 
President for the defense of the United States in a possible 
war. Later, Congress passed a series of resolutions 
affirming that it was the right of the Cuban people to iqqq, ' 
be free and independent, and the duty of the United 
States to demand of Spain that she relinquish her authority 



388 DEVELOPMENT OF THE UNION. 

over Cuba and withdraw her land and naval forces. The 
President was directed to use the land and naval forces of the 
United States and to call out the militia to accomplish this 
purpose. Finally, it was stated " that the United States 
hereby disclaims any disposition or intention to exercise sov- 
ereignty, jurisdiction, or control over said island [of Cuba], 
except for the pacification thereof; and asserts its determinar 
tion, when that is accomplished, to leave the government and 
control of the island to its people." War at once followed. 
The President called for 125,000 troops to serve two years, 
and a blockade of Cuban ports was ordered. 

237. Events of the Spanish War. — The first great battle was 
fought not near Cuba, but in the eastern hemisphere. The 
Philippine Islands were also under the dominion of Spain, 
and also in a state of revolt. In consequence of this, there 
was a considerable Spanish fleet in the harbor of Manila. 
Commodore Dewey, in command of the Pacific squadron of 

the American navy, attacked this fleet May 1, and in 
1898* ^^-^ engagement of two hours annihilated it (without 

the loss of a man or boat on his side), and thus had 
the city of Manila at his mercy. Our government at once took 
measures to send an array under General Merritt to occupy 
Manila. 

The first point of attack in Cuba was the city of Santiago. 
The army under General Shafter invested the place, and the 
fleet under Admiral Sampson guarded the entrance to the 
harbor, within which was a Spanish fleet under Admiral Cer- 

vera. Not long after the army attacked Santiago, 
1 8Q8 ' Cervera took his fleet out of the harbor and made a 

bold attempt to escape, but the American fleet at- 
tacked the Spanish, destroyed it, and took the admiral prisoner. 
The Spanish army in Santiago surrendered to General 
Shafter, and by the terms of the surrender the United States 
government agreed to send the prisoners back to Spain. 
Meanwhile, General Miles, the commanding general of the 
army, landed with troops on the island of Porto E-ico, and met 



AFTER THE CENTENNIAL YEAR. 389 

with little opposition. Before he could move on San Juan, 
word came that Spain had sued for peace. 

238. Peace with Spain. — On August 12, representatives of 
Spain and the United States signed a protocol which was to 
form the basis of a treaty of peace. Spain pledged herself 
to renounce all claims to sovereignty in Cuba; to cede Porto 
Kico, and all her other possessions in the West Indies, to the 
United States ; to cede an island in the Ladrone archipelago, to 
be chosen by the United States ; and to yield to the United 
States possession of Manila, pending the conclusion of a treaty 
of peace, which should determine the control and form of 



End of the Battle of July 3, oflF Santiago- 
government of the Philippine Islands. On the day after the 
signing of the protocol, but before this action was known in 
Manila, Admiral Dewey and General Merritt made a combined 
attack on that city and captured it. 

Arrangements were quickly made for the removal of the 
Spanish troops in Porto Rico and in Cuba. Meanwhile the 
final treaty of peace was signed, so that the total 
duration of the war was less than eight months. Be- 1398.' 
sides ceding Porto Eico and Guam (in the Ladrones) 



890 DEVELOPMENT OF THE UNION. 

to the United States, and giving up Cuba, according to the agree- 
ments of the protocol, the treaty provided that " Spain cedes 
to the United States the archipelago known as the Philippine 
Islands." The inhabitants of these islands were to be pro- 
tected in their private property and the free exercise of their 
religion. The United States agreed to pay to Spain the sum 
of f 20,000,000, which was in a sense purchase money for the 
Philippines. 

Meanwhile, there had developed in the United States a 
strong opposition to the annexation of the Philippines, on the 
ground that the region was a distant one, inhabited by a large 
population of alien race, language, and customs ; and that 
the natives were unwilling to accept the sovereignty of the 
United States. It proved, however, impossible to make this 
a party question, and the treaty was duly ratified. Thus, after 
nearly four centuries of continuous occupation, the 

I899' S^'^^^ eastern and western colonial possessions of Spain 

were swept away. Spain, which at the beginning of 

the English colonization claimed most of the continents of North 

and South America and all of the West India Islands, has now 

not a single square foot of dominion in the western hemisphere. 

239. Hawaii, etc. — Three other additions to the territory of 
the United States were made in 1898-99. In July, 1897, a reso- 
lution was introduced for annexing the Hawaiian Islands to the 
United States, but action was postponed until the 

1898. Spanish War began, when the resolution was passed 
by Congress ; and it was accepted by the government 
of the Hawaiian republic. In 1900 Congress made Hawaii a 
territory of the United States, like the older territories on the 
mainland, with a regular governor and legislature. The Sa- 
moa Islands, in which the United States had for about ten 
years been sharing dominion with Great Britain and Germany,^ 
were divided by a treaty of December 2, 1899, the United States 

iThe Samoa Islands were for a time the home of Robert Louis Stevenson. 
Read his book called "A Footnote to History: Eight Years of Trouble in 
Samoa" (published in 1892). 



AFTER THE CENTENNIAL YEAR. 391 

receiving the island of Tiituila, with the splendid harbor of 
Pago-pago. The uninhabited Wake Island, lying about half- 
way between Hawaii and the Philippines, was occupied in 
January, 1899. 

240. The Government of the New Dependencies ; Porto Rico. — 
The question of how the United States should treat its new 
possessions was raised by a debate on a tariff clause in the bill 
providing a civil government for Porto Rico in 1900. The 
President recommended that Congress should give the same 
privileges of unrestricted trade between the continent and 
Porto Rico as between the various States of the Union. In- 
stead, a clause was introduced, by which the Porto Ricans 
were to have the United States tariff as against foreign 
nations, and a tariff was also to be levied on exports from 
Porto Rico to the United States. In the end a compromise 
was adopted by which a low rate of duties was levied only for 
a short time on products moving both ways; the proceeds to be 
turned over to the island for immediate needs. The act of 1900 
established in Porto Rico a plan of government somewhat like 
that of territories in the United States ; but the Porto 
Ricans were not made United States citizens, and the 1900. 
ordinary laws of Congress were not applied to them. 
As the courts held this act of Congress to be constitutional, 
there was thus definitely established a kind of government 
new in our history : the government of a dependency or colony, 
a land belonging to the United States, but not part of it. 

The Philippines. — The treaty with Spain did not give the 
United States actual possession of the Philippines, for a strong 
and warlike party had arisen there which was determined that 
the Filipinos should be independent. Aguinaldo, the popular 
leader, had been engaged in a movement against the Spaniards, 
and at the beginning of our war with Spain was in Hongkong. 
He was brought back to the islands on an American ship of 
war, organized his countrymen against the Spaniards in 
Manila, and besieged the city by land, while it was invested 
on the sea side by the American fleet. In December, 1898, 



392 



DEVELOPMENT OF fllE UNION. 



President McKinley directed that the power of the United 
States should be extended over the territory, and that the 
natives who resisted should be compelled to obey. He 
appointed a commission, at the head of which was President 
J. G. Schurman of Cornell University, to assist in organizing 

a government ; but Aguinaldo's army meanwhile at- 
1899 ' ^'^^^^^ ^^^® American forces before Manila, and the 

struggle continued for more than two years. Within 
a few months, the Americans occupied the principal towns 
throughout the islands, and made a friendly treaty with the 
Sultan of the Sulu Islands, the southern group of the Philip- 




Filipino Insurgents. 

pines. In the course of a year the Filipino army in the held was 

dispersed, but numerous and troublesome guerilla bands 

1901 ' continued a harassing warfare for months afterward. 

In the spring of 1901, by the capture of Aguinaldo,^ 

lAguinaldo was captured by a small body of troops under Brigadier- 
General Frederick Funston of Kansas, after a skillful and daring march into 
the heart of the enemies' country. 



AFTER THE CENTENNIAL YEAR. 393 

the opposition of the Filipinos to a government by the United 
States was confined to a small group. 

The Schurman commission made an investigation and an 
elaborate report, which much. influenced public opinion by its 
decided statement that the Filipinos were not capable of keep- 
ing up a stable government for themselves. In February, 
1900, President McKinley appointed a new governmental com- 
mission, headed by Judge Taft, of Ohio, with authority to 
constitute both general and local governments in the islands. 
This commission made rapid progress, and to its statesman- 
ship, as well as to the skill and bravery of our army, was due 
the final overthrow of the opposition to the authority of the 
United States. 

In 1902, when peace had been restored in the Philippines, 
Congress adopted a plan of civil government for the Christian 
portion of the archipelago, making this part of the Philippines, 
like Porto Pico, a partly self-governing colony. 

241. Cuba. — The relations of the United States with Cuba 
in 1898-1902 were very unusual ; for while it was the purpose 
of our country to allow the Cubans to form a government of 
their own, it was necessary to take steps to pacify and improve 
the island while the Cubans were getting ready. Most of the 
United States troops were rapidly withdrawn, but a military 
governor, General Wood, was appointed, who was the highest 
authority in the island. The United States provided for im- 
proving the health conditions of the cities, for founding the 
first general system of public schools, for reorganizing the post 
office, and like purposes: for all these purposes taxes were 
levded and collected on the island. In 1901 a Cuban consti- 
tutional convention drew up a form of republican government 
for the island. Congress prescribed certain conditions, which 
the Cubans accepted, to govern the future relations of Cuba 
and the United States, and to guard against foreign 
interference or Cuban misrule. Then, the new Cuban ,q^p ' 
officers having been elected, Governor Wood handed 
the island over to its own government on May 20, 1902. 



394 DEVELOPMENT OF flJE UNION. 

Thus within three years after the sudden breaking out of 
the Spanish War, the United States became possessed of the 
islands of Porto Rico, Wake, Guam, the Philippine Islands, 
Hawaii, and a part of the Samoa Islands. It has thus ceased 
to be wholly a North American power ; it has even extended 
beyond the neighboring West Indies, and by the possession of 
the Philippines it has become a great power in the Pacific, 
and more interested than ever before in the future of China 
and of eastern Asia. 

242. Political and Commercial Events. — Although the atten- 
tion of the country, during McKinley's adminstration, was 
much occupied by the war, by the negotiation of the treaty of 
peace, and by the adjustment of territorial government for the 
various dependencies of the United States, yet the period was 
full of interesting discussions of other public questions. In 
1897 the Republicans succeeded in passing a new tariff law, 
which made the average rate of duties somewhat higher. To 
help meet the expenses of the war, Congress levied an inheri- 
tance tax, and stamp taxes on checks, deeds, and many other 
documents. 

The steady growth of the great combinations of capital, 
usually called trusts, surprised and at the same time alarmed 
the people. The owners of the two greatest American rail- 
road systems, the New York Central and the Pennsylvania 
Railroad, came to an understanding, by which they were to be 
carried on with a common purpose ; and most of the parallel 
lines, such as the Baltimore and Ohio, the Chesapeake and 
Ohio, and the Erie Railroad, came also under the same influ- 
ence ; so that all the main lines from the seaboard to Chicago 
were under the same control, although not under a single 
ownership. The immense carrying trade of the Great Lakes 
has also passed into the hands of a combination which does 
the great part of the business. The owners of the iron mines 
of the Lake Superior region and elsewhere, of the furnaces for 
making pig iron, and of steel works and mills for rolling rails 
and steel for buildings, combined into several large trusts ; 



AFTER THE (JENTENJ^IAL YEAR. 395 

and in 1901 these were united into one enormous corporation, 
having a stated capital of more than eleven hundred million 
dollars.^ 

Presidential Election. — In 1900 an election was duly held 
for the jjresidency of the United States. The Democratic and 
People's parties a second time nominated William J. Bryan 
upon platforms declaring for the free coinage of silver at the 
ratio of 16 to 1. The Eepublicans renominated Mr. McKinley 
for President, and nominated Theodore Eoosevelt, governor 
of New York, for Vice-President. In the campaign the issue 
of free silver was very soon dropped and the main discussion 
came on the question of expansion and of the government of 
the dependencies. In the election Mr. McKinley received 292 
electoral votes, and Mr. Bryan 155. 

243. Assassination of McKinley. — Shortly after his second 
inauguration, the President made a journey to the Pacific coast 
accompanied by some members of his Cabinet. The journey 
was attended by many signs of popular interest, and in Septem- 
ber he Avent also to Buffalo to visit the Pan-American Exposi- 
tion, which was held in tliat city during the summer. On the 
5th of September he made a speech there, and the next day he 
stood on the i^latform of the Temple of Music, and greeted the 
people as they came forward to shake his hand. 

A young man who seemed to have his right hand bandaged 
was one of these, but as his turn came he suddenly fired two 
shots in quick succession at the President. Mr. McKinley's 
first thought was for his invalid wife, his second for the 
assassin, who had been seized instantly and was in peril of 
being put to death by the infuriated people. The President 
received the skillful care of eminent surgeons, and for a few 
days there were hopes of his recovery. But on Saturday, Sep- 

1 One of the results of this eomhmation was a payment in one block of 
nearly $200,000,000 to Mr. Andrew Carnegie, who owned some of the most 
important properties taken over by the new trust; and he at once began to 
distribute his great income in the foundation of public libraries and other 
instruments for doing good. 



396 DEVELOPMENT OF THE UNION. 

tember 14, 1901, lie died, taking leave of his friends, and 
murmuring, " It is God's way ; His will be done, not ours." 

Vice-President Roosevelt at once took the oath of office as 
President of the United States, and the government went for- 
ward without a shock. The assassin was tried for murder 
under the laws of New York, condemned to death, and 
executed. 

244. Isthmian Canal. — The project of constructing a ship 
canal across the narrow central part of America began to 
attract the attention of engineers and of statesmen many. years 
ago. A French company was organized for this purpose by 
De Lesseps, who had pushed the Suez Canal to completion. 
This company began work on a sea-level canal across the low- 
est part of the Isthmus of Panama ; but after spending many 
millions it failed through reckless management before the 
work was half done. Our government had a survey made of 
this route and also of the Nicaragua route farther west, by 
engineers who reported that both routes were feasible. The 
owners of the French canal then offered to sell their rights 
and property for $40,0()(),000; and in 1902 Congress passed 
a law authorizing the President to make the purchase and 
complete the canal, or instead to construct the Nicaragua 
Canal in case satisfactory title and control of the Panama route 
could not be secured. 

The next year, accordingly, a treaty was negotiated with 

Colombia, the country which then included the Isthmus of 

Panama, for selling the control of this route to the United 

States. But the Colombian Congress rejected the treaty, 

whereupon the province of Panama seceded and was 

lori'^' pi'omptly recognized as an independent republic by the 
United States and other countries. A treaty was soon 
made with Panama, whereby our country gained control of 
the Panama route, with a zone ten miles wide from ocean to 
ocean, in consideration of large money payments and a guar- 
antee of Panama's independence. 

The French owners were paid their $ 40,000,000, and our 



AFTER THE CENTENNIAL YEAR. 397 

government began work on the canal. There were many diffi- 
culties to be overcome — unhealthful conditions in the Canal 
Zone, scarcity of labor, and other obstacles, besides serious 
engineering problems. Differences soon arose as to the ad- 
visability of making a sea-level canal (a vast ditch cut down be- 
low the level of the sea) or a lock canal (with parts of the canal 
at different levels, connected by locks). Congress, in 190G, 
finally decided in favor of a lock canal, as promising comple- 
tion in less time. A proposal to employ Chinese labor on the 
canal aroused opposition among laboring men in the United 
States ; as did also a law of 1906 excepting alien labor on the 




Work on the Pauama Canal. 

canal from the rule limiting the hours of labor on goverment 
work to eight hours a day. Toward the end of 1906 it was 
decided to have the work done by contract. 

245. Political Events. — Congress, in 1902, set aside the re- 
ceipts from sales of j)ublic land in the western half of the 



398 



DEVELOPMENT OE* THE UNION, 



Theodore Roosevelt.^ 



1 Theodore Roosevelt, sprung from a family active in New York for eight 
generations, was born in New York City, October 27, 1858. He Avas graduated 
from Harvard University in 1880. From 1882 to 1884 he served in the New York 
Assembly, and in 1889 he was appointed a member of the United States Civil 
Service Commission. In 1895 he became president of the board of police com- 
missioners of New York City, but he resigned that office in 1897 to accept that 
of Assistant Secretary of the Navy. Upon the breaking out of the war with 
Spain, he resigned to accept a commission as lieutenant colonel in the First 
Cavalry, U. S., which took part in the attack on Santiago de Cuba. In 1899 
he was elected governor of New York, and in 1900 Vice-President of the United 
States. In addition to his political and military activity, he has been a writer 
of biographical and historical works, and of narratives of hunting. 



AFTER THE CENTENNIAL YEAR. 399 

country to form a " reclamation fund " ; and the Secretary of 
the Interior was charged with the duty of expending this fund 
in the planning and construction of irrigation works in the arid 
and semi-arid portions of the West. Many thousands of acres 
are being thus reclaimed and made valuable for farming. The 
next year a ninth member was added to the President's 
Cabinet — the Secretary of Commerce and Labor. The 1903. 
new department of Commerce and Labor was made 
up partly of bureaus already in existence — including the Bu- 
reau of Labor established fifteen years before (p. 381) ; and 
partly of new bureaus. One of the latter is the Bureau of 
Corporations, charged with the duty of investigating the opera- 
tions of all corporations, except railroads, engaged in interstate 
commerce. 

The Election of 1904 turned principally on the official record 
of President Boosevelt, the Bepublican candidate, who was 
chosen President for the ensuing term by 336 electoral votes 
to 140 for the Democratic candidate. Judge Parker of New 
York. Other parties which cast many popular votes, but did 
not carry any state, w^ere the Socialist, Prohibition, and 
People's parties. 

Events since 1904. — In spite of the Interstate Commerce 
Act of 1887 (p. 379) and some later laws, favored shippers 
were still given various unfair advantages in the ser- 
vice and charges of railroads. Similar abuses were -|™ 
charged against other common carriers. In 1906 Con- 
gress greatly enlarged the power of the Interstate Commerce 
Commission to supervise railroads, express companies, sleeping- 
car companies, and petroleum pipe line companies ^ operating 
in more than one state ; and even authorized it to fix new 

• 1 Another law aifecting the petroleum industry was an act removing the 
internal revenue tax from alcohol to be used in the arts, or for fuel, light, or 
power. The tax on alcohol had previously been so high as to prevent its 
extensive use in competition with kerosene, gasoline, or other petroleum 
products. Following the example of some other countries, the United States 
now removed the tax, on condition that the alcohol be mixed with certain 
other substances that spoil it for use in any medicine or drink. 



400 DEVELOPMENT OF. THE ITNION. 

freight and passenger rates in place of any it deemed to be 
nnjust and unreasonable. 

Besides this law to regulate interstate transportation, Con- 
gress passed several acts to regulate the quality of goods 
entering into interstate commerce. Efficient inspection of 
meat-packing establishments was provided, at a cost of inore 
than $3,000,000 a year. Adulteration or misbranding of any 
foods, drugs, medicines, or liquors manufactured anywhere for 
sale in another state, was forbidden under heavy penalties. 

New State. — Provision was made for the admission, in 1907, 
of the state of Oklahoma, consisting of both the territory of 
Oklahoma and also what was left of the old Indian Territory. 
So populous was this new state — the forty-sixth in the Union 
— that it was given five representatives in the lower house of 
Congress, though other new states had usually been entitled to 
only one or two representatives. 

246. Cuban Intervention. — In the summer of 1905 there was 
a presidential election in Cuba, which resulted in favor of the 
Moderate party, then already in power. The Liberal party 
protested that their opponents had used force and fraud to 
carry the election ; and within a year large numbers of them 
began an insurrection. The Cuban government failed to sup- 
press the disorder, and in September the Cuban President 
asked the United States for help. Our government first tried 
by diplomatic means to bring the warring parties to a peaceful 
agreement ; but in vain. Both sides offered to surrender to 
the United States, but would make no agreement with each 
other. On the resignation of the Cuban President, our envoy. 
Secretary Taft, took charge of the island and instituted a pro- 
visional government, in accordance with our right to intervene 
when necessary to preserve order in Cuba (p. 393). He an- 
nounced that the intervention was friendly, and would end 
after the election and installation of new officers under the 
Cuban constitution. United States troops were stationed at 
various points in the island, and the insurgents were peace- 
fully disarmed. In October, Charles E. Magoon was appointed 



AFTER THE CENTENNIAL YEAR. 401 

by President Roosevelt to replace Taft as provisional governor 
of Cuba, and to carry on the work of restoring order and con- 
fidence, and giving the Cuban republic a new start. 

QUESTIONS. 

How was the centennial year celebrated ? What great electrical in- 
vention was made known in 1876 ? Narrate the incidents of the Sioux 
War. What gave occasion for the Electoral Commission ? When were 
specie payments resumed ? Give an account of President Garfield. 
Mention some of the important events in President Arthur's administra- 
tion. What is the order of succession to the presidency ? What steps 
have been taken to make citizens of the Indians ? What was the Inter- 
state Commerce Act of 1887 ? What department was added to the ad- 
ministration in 1889 ? Who succeeded President Cleveland ? Describe 
the opening of Oklahoma. What new States were added in 1889 ? in 
1890 ? What was the McKinley bill ? Describe the two great exposi- 
tions; the Venezuela question. What State entered the Union in 1896 ? 
Who was the next President ? What were the defects of Spanish govern- 
ment in Cuba ? What was the Maine incident ? What did Congress 
promise in beginning war ? How did we come to take the Philippine 
Islands? What were the principal points in the treaty of peace with 
Spain ? What was the relation of the United States to Cuba before the 
peace ? How did war begin with the Filipinos ? What was the Schur- 
man Commission ? What was the Taft Commission ? What are the 
present island possessions of the United States? What was the Porto 
Rican tariff ? How did the great railroads come under one management ? 
How did the manufacture of iron and steel come under one management ? 
Who were the candidates for the Presidency in 1900 ? What were the 
issues of the campaign ? What was the date of President McKinley's 
death ? Who then became President ? What has been the history of 
the Panama Canal ? What is the Western " reclamation fund" ? What 
department of government was established in 1903 ? What important 
laws were passed in 1906 ? What has been the history of Cuba since 
1898 ? What is the forty-sixth State, and when was it admitted ? 

SEARCH QUESTIONS. 

What is the extent of the public lands belonging to the nation ? 
Name some of the great reservations. Name some great electrical inven- 
tions. What troubles had the United States with Spain prior to 1898 ? 
What territory had been added to the United States by Congress prior to 



402 DEVELOPMENT OF^TIIE UNION. 

1898 ? What is a trust ? What has cheapened the cost of steel ? How 
many Vice-Presidents have become Presidents without being elected to 
that office ? What commercial measure did President McKinley advocate 
in his speech at Buffalo ? When and at what cost will the Panama Canal 
be completed ? What were some of the adulterations stopped by the 
Pure Food Act of 1900 ? 

SUGGESTIONS FOR LITERARY TREATMENT. 

Composition : 

A day at the Chicago Exposition. 

On a ship of war. 

A visit to a blast furnace, 

A visit to a steel mill. 

The character of Aguinaldo. 

A visit to Cuba. 

Debates : 

Besolved, That Tilden was elected President. 

Resolved^ That the Filipinos ought to have the same kind of govern- 
ment as the people of New Mexico. 

Resolved, That trusts ought to be prohibited by law. 

Resolved, That Cuba ought to be annexed to the United States. 



APPENDIX. 
CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES — 17871 



We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect 
union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquillity, provide for the com- 
mon defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of 
liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Con- 
stitutiou for the United States of America. 

ARTICLE I 

Section 1. Ail legislative powers herein granted shall be vested in 
a Congress of the United States, which shall consist of a Senate and 
House of Kepresentatives. 

Section 2. 1 The House of Representatives shall be composed of 
members chosen every second year by the people of the several States, 
and the electors in each State shall have the qualifications requisite for 
electors of the most numerous branch of the State legislature. 

2 No person shall be a representative who shall not have attained to 
the age of twenty-five years, and been seven years a citizen of the United 
States, and who shall not, when elected, be an inhabitant of that State in 
which he shall be chosen. 

3 Representatives and direct taxes shall be apportioned among the 
several States which may be included within this Union, according to 
their respective numbers, which shall be determined by adding to the 
whole number of free persons, including those bound to service for a term 
of years, and excluding Indians not taxed, three fifths of all other per- 
sons.2 The actual enumeration shall be made within three years after 
the first meeting of the Congress of the United States, and within every 
subsequent term of ten years, in such manner as they shall by law direct. 
The number of representatives shall not exceed one for every thirty 
thousand, but each State shall have at least one representative ; and until 
such enumeration shall be made, the State of New Hampshire shall be 
entitled to choose three, Massachusetts eight, Rhode Island and Provi- 
dence Plantations one, Connecticut five. New York six. New Jersey four, 
Pennsylvania eight, Delaware one, Maryland six, Virginia ten. North 
Carolina five, South Carolina five, and Georgia three. 

4 When vacancies happen in the representation from any State, the 
executive authority thereof shall issue writs of election to fill such 
vacancies. 

5 The House of Representatives shall choose their speaker and other 
officers, and shall have the sole power of impeachment. 

Section 3. 1 The Senate of the United States shall be composed of 
two senators from each State, chosen by the legislature thereof for six 
years ; and each senator shall have one vote. 

1 This reprint of the Constitution exactly follows the text of that in the 
Department of State at Washington, save in the spelling of a few words. 

2 The last half of this sentence was superseded by the 13th and 14th Amend- 
ments. (See p. 12 following.) 

1 



CONSTITUTION OF THE tiNITED STATES 

2 Immediately after they shall be assembled in consequence of the 
first election, they shall be divided as equally as may be into three 
classes. The seats of the senators of the first class shall be vacated at 
the expiration of the second year, of the second class at the expiration of 
the fourth year, and of the third class at the expiration of the sixth year, 
so that one tliird may be chosen every second year ; and if vacancies 
happen by resignation, or otherwise, during the recess of the legislature 
of any State, the executive thereof may make temporary appointments 
until the next meeting of the legislature, which shall then fill such 
vacancies. 

3 No person shall be a senator who shall not have attained to the age 
of thirty years, and been nine years a citizen of the United States, and 
who shall not, when elected, be an inhabitant of that State for which he 
shall be chosen. 

4 The Vice President of the United States shall be President of the 
Senate, but shall have no vote, unless they be equally divided. 

5 The Senate shall choose their other officers, and also a president pro 
tempore, in the absence of the Vice President, or when he shall exercise 
the office of President of the United States. 

6 The Senate shall have the sole power to try all impeachments. 
When sitting for that purpose, they shall be on oath or affirmation. 
When the President of the United States is tried, the chief justice shall 
preside : and no person shall be convicted without the concurrence of two 
thirds of the members present. 

7 Judgment in cases of impeachment shall not extend further than to 
removal from office, and disqualification to hold and enjoy any office of 
honor, trust or profit under the United States : but the party convicted 
shall nevertheless be liable and subject to indictment, trial, judgment and 
punishment, according to law. 

Section 4. 1 The times, places, and manner of holding elections for 
senators and representatives, shall be prescribed in each State by the 
legislature thereof ; but the Congress may at any time by law make or 
alter such regulations, except as to the places of choosing senators. 

2 The Congress shall assemble at least once in every year, and such 
meeting shall be on the first Monday in December, unless they shall by 
law appoint a different day. 

Section 5. 1 Each House shall be the judge of the elections, returns 
and qualifications of its own members, and a majority of each shall con- 
stitute a quorum to do business ; but a smaller number may adjourn from 
day to day, and may be authorized to compel the attendance of absent 
members, in such manner, and under such penalties as each House may 
provide 

2 Each House may determine the rules of its proceedings, puni.sh its 
members for disorderly behavior, and, with the concurrence of two thirds, 
expel a member.. 

3 Each House shall keep a journal of its proceedings, and from time 
to time publish the same, excepting such parts as may in their judgment 
require secrecy; and the yeas and nays of the members of either House 
on any question shall, at the desire of one fifth of those present, be 
entered on the journal. 

4 Neither House, during the session of Congress, shall, without the 
consent of the other, adjourn for more than three days, nor to any other 
place than that in which the two Houses shall be sitting. 

2 



CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES 

Section 6. 1 The senators and representatives shall receive a com- 
pensation for their services, to be ascertained by law, and paid out of the 
Treasury of the United States. They shall in all cases, except treason, 
felony and breach of the peace, be privileged from arrest during their 
attendance at the session of their respective Houses, and in going to and 
returning from the same ; and for any speech or debate in either House, 
they shall not be questioned in any other place. 

2 No senator or representative shall, during the time for which he 
was elected, be appointed to any civil office under the authority of the 
United States, which shall have been created, or the emoluments whereof 
shall have been increased during such time ; and no person holding any 
office under the United States shall be a member of either House during 
his continuance in office. 

Section 7. 1 All bills for raising revenue shall originate in the 
House of Representatives ; but the Senate may propose or concur with 
amendments as on other bills. 

2 Every bill which shall have passed the House of Representatives and 
the Senate, shall, before it become a law, be presented to the President 
of the United States ; if he approve he shall sign it, but if not he shall 
return it, with his objections to that House in which it shall have origi- 
nated, who shall enter the objections at large on their journal, and proceed 
to reconsider it. If after such reconsideration two thirds of that House 
shall agree to pass the bill, it shall be sent, together with the objections, 
to the other House, by which it shall likewise be reconsidered, and if 
approved by two thirds of that House, it shall become a law. But in all 
such cases the votes of both Houses shall be determined by yeas and nays, 
and the names of the persons voting for and against the bill shall be en- 
tered on the journal of each House respectively. If any bill shall not be 
returned by the President within ten days (Sundays excepted) after it 
shall have been presented to him, the same shall be a law, in like manner 
as if he had signed it, unless the Congress by their adjournment prevent 
its return, in which case it shall not be a law. 

3 Every order, resolution, or vote to which the concurrence of the 
Senate and House of Representatives may be necessary (except on a ques- 
tion of adjournment) shall be presented to the President of the United 
States ; and before the same shall take effect, shall be approved by him, 
or being disapproved by him, shall be repassed by two thirds of the Senate 
and House of Representatives, according to the rules and limitations pre- 
scribed in the case of a bill. 

Section 8. 1 The Congress shall have power to lay and collect 
taxes, duties, imposts and excises, to pay the debts and provide for the 
common defense and general welfare of the United States ; but all duties, 
imposts and excises shall be uniform throughout the United States ; 

2 To borrow money on the credit of the United States ; 

3 To regulate commerce with foreign nations, and among the several 
States, and with the Indian tribes ; 

4 To establish an uniform rule of naturalization, and uniform laws on 
the subject of bankruptcies throughout the United States ; 

5 To coin money, regulate the value thereof, and of foreign coin, and 
fix the standard of weights and measures ; 

6 To provide for the punishment of counterfeiting the securities and 
current coin of the United States ; 

7 To establish post offices and post roads ; 



CONSTITITTTON OF THF T^NTTET) STATES 

8 To promote the progress of science and useful arts by securing for 
limited times to authors and inventors the exclusive right to their respec- 
tive writings and discoveries ; 

9 To constitute tribunals inferior to the Supreme Court ; 

10 To define and punish piracies and felonies committed on the high 
seas, and offenses against the law of nations ; 

11 To declare war, grant letters of marque and reprisal, and make 
rules concerning captures on land and water ; 

12 To raise and support armies, but no appropriation of money to that 
use shall be for a longer term than two years ; 

13 To provide and maintain a navy ; 

14 To make rules for the government and regulation of the land and 
naval forces ; 

15 To provide for calling forth the militia to execute the laws of the 
Union, suppress insurrections and repel invasions ; 

16 To provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining the militia, and 
for governing such part of them as may be employed in the service of tha 
United States, reserving to the States respectively the appointment of the 
officers, and the authority of training the militia according to the disci- 
pline prescribed by Congress ; 

17 To exercise exclusive legislation in all cases whatsoever, over such 
district (not exceeding ten miles square) as may, by cession of particular 
States and the acceptance of Congress, become the seat of the government 
of the United States, ^ and to exercise like authority over all places pur- 
chased by the consent of the legislature of the State in which the same 
shall be, for the erection of forts, magazines, arsenals, dockyards, and 
other needful buildings ; and 

18 To make all laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying 
into execution the foregoing powers, and all other powers vested by this 
Constitution in the government of the United States, or in any department 
or officer thereof. 

Section 9. 1 The migration or importation of such persons as any 
of the States now existing shall think proper to admit, shall not be pro- 
hibited by the Congress prior to the year one thousand eight hundred and 
eight, but a tax or duty may be imposed on such importation, not exceed- 
ing ten dollars for each person.'^ 

2 The privilege of the writ of habeas corpus shall not be suspended, 
unless when in cases of rebellion or invasion the public safety may re- 
quire it. 

3 No bill of attainder or ex post facto law shall be passed. 

4 No capitation, or other direct, tax shall be laid, unless in proportion 
to the census or enumeration hereinbefore directed to be taken. 

5 No tax or duty shall be laid on articles exported from any State. 

6 No preference shall be given by any regulation of commerce or reve- 
nue to the ports of one State over those of another : nor shall vessels 
bound to, or from, one State be obliged to enter, clear, or pay duties in 
another. 

7 No money shall be drawn from the treasury, but in consequence of 
appropriations made by law ; and a regular statement and account of the 

1 The District of Columbia, which comes under these regulations, had not 
then been erected. 

2 A temporary clause, no longer in force. See also Article V, p. 8 following. 

4 



CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES 

receipts and expenditures of all public money shall be published from time 
to time. 

8 No title of nobility shall be granted by the United States : and no 
person holding any office of profit or trust under them, shall, without the 
consent of the Congress, accept of any present, emolument, office, or title, 
of any kind whatever, from any king, prince, or foreign State. 

Section 10. i 1 No State shall enter into any treaty, alliance, or con- 
federation ; grant letters of marque and reprisal ; coin money ; emit bills 
of credit ; make anything but gold and silver coin a tender in payment of 
debts ; pass any bill of attainder, ex post facto law, or law impairing the 
obligation of contracts, or grant any title of nobility. 

2 No State shall, without the consent of the Congress, lay any imposts 
or duties on imports or exports, except what may be absolutely necessary 
for executing its inspection laws : and the net produce of all duties and 
imposts laid by any State on imports or exports, shall be for the use of 
the treasury of the United States ; and all such laws shall be subject to 
the revision and control of the Congress. 

3 No State shall, without the consent of Congress, lay any duty of 
tonnage, keep troops, or ships of war in time of peace, enter into any 
agreement or compact with another State, or with a foreign power, or 
engage in war, unless actually invaded, or in such imminent danger as 
will not admit of delay. 

ARTICLE II 

Section 1. 1 The executive power shall be vested in a President of 
the United States of America. He shall hold his office during the term of 
four years, and, together with the Vice President, chosen for the same 
term, be elected, as follows 

2 Each State shall appoint, in such manner as the legislature thereof 
may direct, a number of electors, equal to the whole number of senators 
and representatives to which the State may be entitled in the Congress : 
but no senator or representative, or person holding an office of trust or 
profit under the United States, shall be appointed an elector. 

The electors shall meet in their respective States, and vote by ballot 
for two persons, of whom one at least shall not be an inhabitant of the 
same State with themselves. And they shall make a list of all the per- 
sons voted for, and of the number of votes for each ; which list they shall 
sign and certify, and transmit sealed to the seat of the government of the 
United States, directed to the president of the Senate. The president of the 
Senate, shall, in the presence of the Senate and House of Representatives, 
open all the certificates, and the votes shall then be counted. The person 
having the greatest number of votes shall be the President, if such number 
be a majority of the whole number of electors appointed ; and if there be 
more than one who have such majority, and have an equal number of 
votes, then the House of Representatives shall immediately choose by 
ballot one of them for President ; and if no person have a majority, then 
from the five highest on the list the said house shall in like manner choose 
the President. But in choosing the President, the votes shall be taken 
by States, the representation from each State having one vote ; a quorum 
for this purpose shall consist of a member or members from two thirds of 
the States, and a majority of all the States shall be necessary to a choice. 

1 See afso the 10th, 13th, 14th, and 15tb Amendments, pp. 11, 12 foUowiug. 

5 



CONSTITUTION OF THE IfNITED STATES 

In every case, after the choice of the President, the person having the 
greatest number of votes of the electors shall be the Vice President. But 
if there should remain two or more who have equal votes, the Senate 
shall choose from them by ballot the Vice President.^ 

3 The Congress may determine the time of choosing the electors, and 
the day on w^hicli they shall give their votes ; which day shall be the same 
throughout the United States. 

4 No person except a natural born citizen, or a citizen of the United 
States, at the time of the adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to 
the office of President ; neither shall any person be eligible to that office 
who shall not have attained to the age of thirty-five years, and been four- 
teen years a resident within the United States. 

5 In case of the removal of the President from office, or of his death, 
resignation, or inability to discharge the powers and duties of the said 
office, the same shall devolve on the Vice President, and the Congress 
may by law provide for the case of removal, death, resignation, or ina- 
bility, both of the President and Vice President, declaring what officer 
shall then act as President, and such officer shall act accordingly, until 
the disability be removed, or a President shall be elected. 

6 The President shall, at stated times, receive for his services a com- 
pensation, which shall neither be increased nor diminished during the 
period for which he shall have been elected, and he shall not receive 
within that period any other emolument from the United States, or any 
of them. 

7 Before he enter on the execution of his office, he shall take the fol- 
lowing oath or affirmation: — "I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I 
will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States, and 
will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitu- 
tion of the United States." 

Section 2. 1 The President shall be commander in chief of the 
army and navy of the United States, and of the militia of the several 
States, when called into the actual service of the United States ; he may 
require the opinion, in writing, of the principal officer in each of the 
executive departments, upon any subject relating to the duties of their 
respective offices, and he shall have power to grant reprieves and pardons 
for offenses against the United States, except in cases of impeachment. 

2 He shall have power, by and with the advice and consent of the 
Senate, to make treaties, provided two thirds of the senators present con- 
cur ; and he shall nominate, and by and with the advice and consent of 
the Senate, shall appoint ambassadors, other public ministers and consuls, 
judges of the Supreme Court, and all other officers of the United States, 
whose appointments are not herein otherwise provided for, and which 
shall be established by law : but the Congress may by law vest the 
appointment of such inferior officers, as they think proper, in the Presi- 
dent alone, in the courts of law, or in the heads of depai'tments. 

3 The President shall have power to fill up all vacancies that may 
happen during the recess of the Senate, by granting commissions which 
shall expire at the end of their next session. 

Section 3. He shall from time to time give to the Congress infor- 
mation of the state of the Union, and recommend to their consideration 
such measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient ; he may, on 

1 This paragraph superseded by the 12th Amendment, p. 11 foUcwing. 



CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES 

extraordinary occasions, convene both Houses, or either of them, and in 
case of disagreement between them with respect to the time of adjourn- 
ment, he may adjourn them to such time as he shall think proper ; he 
shall receive ambassadors and other public ministers ; he shall take care 
that the laws be faithfully executed, and shall commission all the officers 
of the United States. 

Section 4. The President, Vice President, and all civil officers of the 
United States, shall be removed from office on impeachment for, and con- 
viction of, treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors. 

ARTICLE III 

Section 1. The judicial power of the United States shall be vested 
in one Supreme Court, and in such inferior courts as the Congress may 
from time to time ordain and establish. The judges, both of the Supreme 
and inferior courts, shall hold their offices during good behavior, and 
shall, at stated times, receive for their services, a compensation which 
shall not be diminished during their continuance in office. 

Section 2. 1 The judicial power shall extend to all cases, in law and 
equity, arising under this Constitution, the laws of the United States, 
and treaties made, or which shall be made, under their authority; — to 
all cases affecting ambassadors, other public ministers and consuls ; — 
to all cases of admiralty and maritime jurisdiction ; — to controversies to 
which the United States shall be a party ; — to controversies between two 
or more States ; — between a State and citizens of another State ; i — be- 
tween citizens of different States, — between citizens of the same State 
claiming lands under grants of different States, and between a State, or 
the citizens thereof, and foreign States, citizens or subjects, 

2 In all cases affecting ambassadors, other public ministers and con- 
suls, and those in which a State shall be party, the Supreme Court shall 
have original jurisdiction. In all the other cases before mentioned, the 
Supreme Court shall have appellate jurisdiction, both as to law and fact, 
with such exceptions, and under such regulations as the Congress shall 
make. 

3 The trial of all crimes, except in cases of impeachment, shall be by 
jury ; and such trial shall be held in the State where the said crimes shall 
have been committed ; but when not committed within any State, the 
trial shall be at such place or places as the Congress may by law have 
directed. 

Section 3. 1 Treason against the United States, shall consist only in 
levying war against them, or in adhering to their enemies, giving them 
aid and comfort. No person shall be convicted of treason unless on the 
testimony of two witnesses to the same overt act, or on confession in 
open court. 

2 The Congress shall have power to declare the punishment of treason, 
but no attainder of treason shall work corruption of blood, or forfeiture 
except during the life of the person attainted. 

ARTICLE IV 

Section 1. Full faith and credit shall be given in each State to the 
public acts, records, and judicial proceedings of every other State. And 

1 See the Uth Amendment, p. 11 foUowiug. 

7 



CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES 

the Congress may by general laws prescribe the manner in which such 
acts, records and proceedings shall be proved, and the effect thereof. 

Section 2. 1 The citizens of each State shall be entitled to all privi- 
leges and immunities of citizens in the several States. 

2 A person charged in any State with treason, felony, or other crime, 
who shall ilee from justice, and be found in another State, shall on de- 
mand of the executive authority of the State from which he fled, be 
delivered up to be removed to the State having jurisdiction of the crime. 

3 No person held to service or labor in one State, under the laws 
thereof, escaping into another, shall, in consequence of any law or regu- 
lation therein, be discharged from such service or labor, but shall be 
delivered up on claim of the party to whom such service or labor may 
be due.i 

Section 3. 1 New States may be admitted by the Congress into this 
Union ; but no new State shall be formed or erected within the jurisdic- 
tion of any other State ; nor any State be formed by the junction of two 
or more States, or parts of States, without the consent of the legislatures 
of the States concerned as well as of the Congress. 

2 The Congress shall have power to dispose of and make all needful 
rules and regulations respecting the territory or other property belonging 
to the United States ; and nothing in this Constitution shall be so con- 
strued as to prejudice any claims of the United States, or of any particular 
State. 

Section 4. The United States shall guarantee to every State in this 
Union a republican form of government, and shall protect each of them 
against invasion ; and on application of the legislature, or of the execu- 
tive (when the legislature cannot be convened) against domestic violence. 

ARTICLE V 

The Congress, whenever two thirds of both Houses shall deem it 
necessary, shall propose amendments to this Constitution, or, on the 
application of the legislatures of two thirds of the several States, shall 
call a convention for proposing amendments, which, in either case, shall 
be valid to all intents and purposes, as part of this Constitution, when 
ratified by the legislatures of three fourths of the several States, or by 
conventions in three fourths thereof, as the one or the other mode of 
ratification may be proposed by the Congress ; Provided that no amend- 
ment which may be made prior to the year one thousand eight hundred 
and eight shall in any manner affect the first and fourth clauses in the 
ninth section of the first article ; and that no State, without its consent, 
shall be deprived of its equal suffrage in the Senate. 

ARTICLE VI 

1 All debts contracted and engagements entered into, before the 
adoption of this Constitution, shall be as valid against the United States 
under this Constitution, as under the Confederation. 

2 This Constitution, and the laws of the United States which shall be 
made in pursuance thereof ; and all treaties made, or which shall be made, 
under the authority of the United States, shall be the supreme law of the 
land ; and the judges in every State shall be bound thereby, anything in 
the Constitution or laws of any State to the contrary notwithstanding. 

1 See the 13th Amendment, p. 12 following. 



CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES 



3 The senators and representatives before mentioned, and the mem- 
bers of tlie several State legislatures, and all executive and judicial officers, 
both of the United States, and of the several States, sliall be bound by 
oath or affirmation to support this Constitution ; but no religious test 
shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under 
the United States. 

ARTICLE VII 

The ratification of the conventions of nine States shall be sufficient for 
the establishment of this Constitution between the States so ratifying the 
same. 

Done in Convention by the unanimous consent of the States present the 
seventeenth day of September in the year of our Lord one thousand 
seven hundred and eighty-seven, and of the independence of the United 
States of America the twelfth. In witness whereof we have hereunto 
subscribed our names, 

Go: Washington — 

Presidt. and Deputy from Virginia 



New Hampshire 

John Langdon 
Nicholas Gilman 

3IassachuseUs 

Nathaniel Gorham 
Rufus King 

Connecticut 

Wm, Saml. Johnson 
Roger Sherman 



Delaioare 

Geo: Read 

Gunning Bedford Jun 

John Dickinson 

Richard Bassett 

Jaco : Broom , 

Maryland 

James Mc Henry 

Dan of St. Thos Jenifer 

Danl. Carroll 



New York 
Alexander Hamilton 

New Jersey 

Wil : Livingston 
David Brearley 
Wm. Paterson 
Jona: Dayton 

Pennsylvania 

B. Franklin 
Thomas Miflfiin 
Robt. Morris 
Geo. Clymer 
Thos. Fitzsimons 
Jared Ingersoll 
James Wilson 
Gouv Morris 



Attest 



Virginia 

John Blair — 
James Madison Jr. 

North Carolina 

Wm. Blount 

Richd. Dobbs Spaight 

Hu Williamson 

South Carolina 

J. Rutledge, 

Charles Cotesworth Pinckney 

Charles Pinckney 

Pierce Butler. 

Georgia 

William Few 
Abr Baldwin 
William Jackson Secretary. 



CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES 

Articles in addition to, and amendment of, the Constitution of the United 
States of America, proposed by Congress, and ratified by the legisla- 
tures of the several States pursuant to the fifth article of the original 
Constitution. 

ARTICLE II 

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or 
prohibiting the free exercise thereof ; or abridging the freedom of speech, 
or of the press ; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to 
petition the government for a redress of grievances. 

ARTICLE II 

A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, 
the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed. 

ARTICLE III 

No soldier shall, in time of peace be quartered in any house, without 
the consent of the owner, nor in time of war, but in a manner to be pre- 
scribed by law. 

ARTICLE IV 

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, 
and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be vio- 
lated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by 
oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, 
and the p'ersons or things to be seized. 

ARTICLE V 

No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous 
crime, mness on a presentment or indictment of a grand jury, except in 
cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the militia, when in actual 
service in time of war or public danger ; nor shall any person be subject 
for the same offense to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb ; nor shall 
be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be 
deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall 
private propert}' be taken for public use without just compensation. 

ARTICLE VI 

In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a 
speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district 
wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have 
been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and 
cause of the accusation ; to be confronted with the witnesses against him ; 
to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to 
have the assistance of counsel for his defense. 

ARTICLE VII 

In suits at common law, where the value in controversy shall exceed 
twenty dollars, the right of trial by jury shall be preserved, and no fact 
tried hy a jury shall be otherwise reexamined in any court of the United 
States, than according to the rules of the common law. 

1 The first ten Amendments were adopted in 1791. 

10 



CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITi:!) STATES 

ARTICLE VIII 

Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor 
cruel and unusual punishments inflicted. 

ARTICLE IX 

The enumeration in the Constitution of certain rights shall not be 
construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people. 

ARTICLE X 

The powders not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor 
prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to 
the people. ARTICLE XI > 

- The judicial power of the United States shall not be construed to extend 
to any suit in law or equity, commenced or prosecuted against one of the 
United States by citizens of another State, or by citizens or subjects of 
any foreign state. ARTICLE XII 2 

The electors shall meet in their respective States, and vote by ballot 
for President and Vice President, one of whom, at least, shall not be an 
inhabitant of the same State with themselves ; they shall name in their 
ballots the person voted for as President, and in distinct ballots the person 
voted for as Vice President, and they shall make distinct lists of all per- 
sons voted for as President and of all persons voted for as Vice President, 
and of the number of votes for each, which lists they shall sign and 
certify, and transmit sealed to the seat of the government of the United 
States, directed to the president of the Senate; — The president of the 
Senate shall, in tlie presence of the Senate and House of Representatives, 
open all the certificates and the votes shall then be counted ; — The person 
having the greatest number of votes for President shall be the President, 
if such number be a majority of the whole number of electors appointed ; 
and if no person have such majority, then from the persons having the 
highest numbers not exceeding three on the list of those voted for as 
President, the House of Representatives shall choose immediately, by 
ballot, the President. But in choosing the President, the votes shall be 
taken by States, the representation from each State having one vote ; a 
quorum for this purpose shall consist of a member or members from two 
thirds of the States, and a majority of all the States shall be necessary 
to a choice. And if the House of Representatives shall not choose a 
President whenever the right of choice shall devolve upon them, before 
the fourth day of March next following, then the Vice President shall act 
as President, as in the case of the death or other constitutional disability 
of the President. The person having the greatest number of votes as 
Vice President shall be the Vice President, if such number be a majority 
of the whole number of electors appointed, and if no person have a 
majority, then from the two highest numbers on the list, the Senate shall 
choose the Vice President ; a quorum for the purpose shall consist of two 
thirds of the whole number of senators, and a majority of the whole 
number shall be necessary to a choice. But no person constitutionally 
ineligible to the office of President shall be eligible to that of Vice Presi- 
dent of the United States. 

1 Adopted in 1798. 2 Adopted in 1804. 

11 



CONSTITUTION OF THE iJNITED STATES 

ARTICLE XIII 1 

Section 1. Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a pun- 
ishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall 
exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction. 

Section 2. Congress shall have power to enforce this article by ap- 
propriate legislation. 

ARTICLE XIV 2 

Section 1. All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and 
subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of 
the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law 
which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United 
States ; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, 
without due process of law ; nor deny to any person witliin its jurisdic- 
tion the equal protection of the laws. 

Section 2. Representatives shall be apportioned among the several 
States according to their respective numbers, counting the whole number 
of persons in each State, excluding Indians not taxed. But when the right 
to vote at any election for the choice of electors for President and Vice 
President of the United States, representatives in Congress, the executive 
and judicial officers of a State, or the members of the legislature thereof, 
is denied to any of the male inhabitants of such State, being twenty-one 
years of age, and citizens of the United States, or in any way abridged, 
except for participation in rebellion, or other crime, the basis of representa- 
tion therein shall be reduced in the proportion which the number of such 
male citizens shall bear to the whole number of male citizens twenty-one 
years of age in such State. 

Section 3. No person shall be a senator or representative in Congress, 
or elector of President and Vice President, or hold any office, civil or mili- 
tary, under the United States, or under any State, who, having previously 
taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of" the United 
States, or as a member of any State legislature, or as an executive or judi- 
cial officer of any State, to support the Constitution of the United States, 
shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion rtgainst the same, or given 
aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may by a vote of 
two thirds of ep.ch House, remove such disability. 

Section 4. The validity of the public debt of the United States, author- 
ized by law, including debts incurred for payment of pensions and bounties 
for services in suppressing insurrection or rebellion, shall not be questioned. 
But neither the United States nor any State shall assume or pay any debt 
or obligation incurred in aid of insurrection or rebellion against the 
United States, or any claim for the loss or emancipation of any slave ; 
but all such debts, obligations and claims shall be held illegal and void. 

Section 5. The Congress shall have power to enforce, by appropriate 
legislation, the provisions of this article. 

ARTICLE XV 3 

Section 1. The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall 
not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account 
of race, color, or previous condition of servitude. 

Section 2. The Congress shall have power to enforce this article by 
appropriate legislation. 

1 Adopted in 1^05. 2 Adopted in 1868. 3 Adopted in 1870, 

12 



INDEX. 



Abolitionists, rise of, 279-281. 

Acadia, detinition, 2(5 ; name first 
g;iveu to country claimed by French, 
29 ; English send colony to, 91 ; 
French Acadians hostile to English, 
94: ; French families removed from, 
95. 

Adams, John, portrait, 139 ; nomi- 
nates Washington commander-in- 
chief of army, 140 ; sketch. 140 ; 
signs treaty of peace, 178 ; minister 
to England, 185 ; chosen first Vice 
President, 190 ; administration, 214- 
21(3 ; death of, 2(i5. 

Adams, John Qaincy, objects to Rus- 
sia's claim, 247 ; portrait, 264 ; pub- 
lic services <^)f, 205 ; administration, 
2t)5 ; sides with Georgia Indians, 
2(37 ; tries to buy Texas, 278 ; de- 
fends right of petition, 281. 

Adams, Samuel, sketch, 131-133. 

Africa, Asia sought round coast of, 2. 

Agriculture, Department of, 381. 

Aguinaldo, 391, 392. 

Alabama, added to Union, 256. 

Alabama, Confederate vessel, 334,352. 

Alabama claims, 3(37. 

Alaska, purchase of, 365. 

Albany, once Fort Orange, 35, 36, 63 ; 
early shops in, 109. 

Albany Congress, 92. 

Albany Plan of Union, 118, 119. 

Albemarle, Confederate ram, 352. 

Albemarle Colony, 83. 

Alexander VI., pope, decrees "Line of 
Demarcation," 13. 

Algiers, subdued by Decatur, 239. 

Algonquin Indians, 23, 30. 

Alien and Sedition Acts, 215. 

Alleghanies, iixed as western bound- 
ary, 171, 172. 

Allen, Ethan, 143. 

Amendments to the Constitution, in- 
frequent, 192 ; Thirteenth, 361 ; 
Fourteenth, Fifteenth, 362. 

America, named after Amerigo Ves- 
pucci, 12 ; known not to be part of 
Asia, 14 ; conquests of Spain in, 15; 
English discoveries in, 40 ; whole 
continent protected by Monroe doc- 
trine, 247, 248. 



American army in the Revolution, 
foreign oliticers Hock to, 155 ; in- 
trenched on Long Island, 1(30 ; dis- 
couraged by defeats, 161, 162 ; 
sufferings of, 1(32 ; into winter 
quarters at Morristown, 163 ; de- 
feated at Brandywine, 1(36 ; encour- 
aged by Bui-goyne's surrender, 1(37 ; 
sufferings and heroism at Valley 
Forge, 1(59, 170 ; disbanded, 178 ; 
homeless condition of, 179. 

American navy, few ships in (1776), 
159 ; effect of letters of marque on, 
172 ; exploits in war with Tripoli, 
225, 226 ; victories in War of 1812, 
233 ; on Lake Erie, 234. 

Americans, restricted meaning of, 127. 

Amherst, Sir Jeffrey, at Louisburg, 96. 

Amsterdam, traders from, on Manhat- 
tan Island, 35 ; Separatists at, 48. 

Anderson, Major Robert, at Fort Sum- 
ter (1861), 321, 325, 326 ; raises flag 
again over Fort Sumter (1865), 355. 

Andre, Major John, spy, 174. 

Andros, Sir Edmund, 64, 65. 

Annapolis, Md., 78. 

Annapolis Basin, French post at, 29. 

Antarctic Continent, Wilkes's explora- 
tion of, 299. 

Anthracite coal, 255. 

Antietam Creek, battle of, 344. 

Anti-Federalists, 194, 210. See also 
Democratic-Republican i^arty. 

Anti-Nebraska men, 311, 313, 314. 

Antislavery men, 279, 280 ; desert 
Clay, 282. See also Slavery. 

Appalachian range, 249 ; coal and iron 
in, 254, 255 ; Union sentiment in, 
326. 

Appomattox Court House, Lee at, 355. 

Arbitration, International, at Geneva, 
367 ; regarding Venezuela, 384. 

Arctic expedition, Kane's, 310. 

Arizona, penetrated by Coronado, 16 ; 
cliff-dwellers in, 19 ; part of Mexi- 
can cession, 286. 

Arkansas, admitted to Union, 277. 

Armories, national, modeled after Eli 
AVhitney's buildings, 199. 

Armstrong, General, services of, 363. 

Army of Northern Virginia, 332. 



INDEX 



Army of the Cumberland, 349. 

Army of the Potomac, 332 ; map of 

operations, 341 ; Grant takes head- 
quarters with, 350. 
Arnold, Benedict, marches to Quebec, 

143, 144 ; relieves Fort Stanvvix, 1(55; 

at Saratoga, 1(57 ; treachery, 174. 
Aroostook War, 265. 
Arthur, Chestei" A., President, 37(i. 
Articles of Confederation, 153, 154. 
Ashburton, Lord, commissioner on 

northeastern boundary, 289, 291. 
Asia, Columbus hoped to reach, 1, 3 ; 

commerce with Europe cut off by 

Turks, 2. 
Astor, John Jacob, 290. 
Astoria, 290. 

Atlanta, taken by Sherman, 353. 
Atlanta Exposition, 384. 
Atlantic cable, 3(55. 
Atlantic Ocean, Toscanelli lays route 

across, 3 ; called Sea of Darkness, (5. 
Australian ballot law, 381. 

Bacon's Rebellion, 81. 

Bahama Islands, Columbus at, 11. 

Bainbridge, Commodore, 233. 

Balboa, explorer, 14. 

Baltimore, Lords. See Calvert. 

Baltimore, founded, 78, 114 ; British 

attack on, 237 ; Garrison sent to 

jail in, 279 ; Democratic convention 

of 1860 at, 316 ; first blood of Civil 

War at, 329. 
Bancroft, George, 303. 
Banks, only three in country, 194; 

state, 275 ; national, established, 

347 ; see also United States Bank. 
Banks, General elected Speaker, 313 ; 

repulsed by Stonewall Jackson, 342 ; 

forced back at Cedar Mountain, 344. 
Bannocks, 106. 
Barbadoes, 82, 83. 
Barbara Frietchie, 358. 
Barbary states, 224, 239. 
Bartram, John, botanist, 114. 
Bastile, key of, sent to Washington, 

210. 
Beauregard, General, in charge at 

Charleston harbor, 321; fires on 

Fort Sumter, 325 ; commands Army 

of Northern Virginia, 332. 
Beecher, Henry Ward, 308. 
Behaim, Martin , globe of, 7, 8. 
Bell, Alexander Graham, 372. 
Bell, John, nominated for President, 

316. 
Bennington, battle of, 165. 
Berkeley, Sir William, governor of 

Virginia, 78, 81. 



Berlin Conference, 377. 

Berlin Decree, 226. 

Biddeford, Maine, founded, 59. 

Uif/low Papers, 308. 

Bill of Rights, in Constitution, 193. 

Black Hawk Campaign, 324. 

Black Hills, invaded by settlers, 372. 

Blessing of the Bay, vessel, 55, 56. 

Blockade, ordered against Southern 
ports, 330 ; difficult to maintain, 332 ; 
strengthened, 352. 

Bonaparte. See Napoleon I. 

Bon Homme Richard, ship, 173. 

Book of Mormon, 293. 

Boone, Daniel, pioneer, 203, 204. 

Boonesborough, Kentucky, 203, 204. 

Booth, John Wilkes, assassin, 355, 356. 

Boston, named, 53 ; settlement, 54, 55 ; 
General Court formed at, 56; de- 
poses Andros, (55; town meeting in, 
107 ; Lil)erty Tree in, 126, 127 ; forti- 
fied by Gage, 13(5; surrounded by 
patriots, 138; British army remains 
in, 143 ; siege of , ended, 145; Garri- 
son mobbed in, 279. 

Boston Massacre, 131, 140. 

Boston News Letter, 118. 

Boston Port Bill, 134. 

Boston Tea Party, 133. 

Boundary, northeastern, 288; north- 
western, 289-292. 

Bouquet, Colonel Henry, breaks Pon- 
tiac's power, 100. 

Braddock's Defeat, 93. 

Bradford, Governor William, his Hifi- 
tory of Plymouth Plantation, 67. 

Bragg, General, at Chickamauga, 349. 

Brandywine, battle of, 16(5. 

Brant, Joseph, at Oriskany, 165. 

Brazil, 13. 

Breckenridge, John C, nominated for 
President, 316. 

Breed's Hill, 141. 

Breton fishermen visit America, 26,27. 

British army in the Revolution, evac- 
uates Boston, 145; expedition to 
Charleston, 147; campaign in South 
(1778), 171; takes Charleston, 173; 
defeats Gates, 174 ; Green harasses, 
175 ; retreats to V^irginia, 17(5 ; 
trapped at Yorktown, 176; surren- 
ders, 177 ; evacuates New York, 178. 

Brock, General Isaac, 231, 232. 

Brook, Lord, holds patent to land on 
Connecticut River, 56. 

Brooklyn Heights, battle near, 160. 

Brown," John, invades Missouri, 312; 
at Harper's Ferry, 315; hanged, 315. 

Bryan, William J., 386, 395. 

BrVant, William Cullen, 251, 304. 



14 



INDEX 



Buchanan, James, administration of, 
31:3-316; sketch, 313; portrait, 314; 
reinforces Fort Sumter, 321 ; divi- 
sions in his cabinet, 322. 

Buell, General, at Shiloh, 336. 

Buena Vista, battle of, 285. 

Buffalo, the, uses to Indians, 22. 

Bull Run, battle of, 330 ; second battle, 
344. 

Bunker Hill, battle of, 141, 142. 

Bur.ooyne, General, 164, 1()5, 167. 

Burke, Edmund, opposes policy of 
George III., 144. 

Burlington, N.J., settled, 72. 

Burnside, General, 344, 348. 

Burr, Aaron, 222. 

Butler, General Benjamin F., declares 
slaves " contraband of war," 332 ; 
placed over New Orleans, 337. 

Byles, Rev. Mather, loyalist daughters 
of, 152. 

Cabal, definition of , 158; against Gen- 
eral Washington, 169. 

Cabinet, 190, 191. 

Cabins, frontier, 206. 

Cabot, John, explorer, 40. 

Calhoun, John C., 230; and State sov- 
ereignty, 265-267, 274; portrait, 
sketch, 266. 

California, visited by Drake, 41 ; sup- 
posed plan for Russia to take, 247 ; 
independence of, declared, 285 ; part 
of Mexican cession, 286^ gold dis- 
covered in, 292; rapid growth, 292; 
admission to Union, 2iM:, 295. 

Calvert, Cecil, Lord Baltimore, 77. 

Calvert, George, Lord Baltimore, 76, 
77. 

Calverts, the, wise rule of, in Mary- 
land, 77, 78. 

Camden, S.C, battle of, 174. 

Canada, early visited by Breton fisher- 
men, 27; Cartier takes possession 
of, 28 ; voyages of Champlain to, 29 ; 
Jesuit missionaries in, 30; given up 
by France, 99; French inhabitants 
remain in, 99; refuses to join Con- 
federation, 154; fighting on boi-der 
in War of 1812, 231, 232; campaign 
of 1814 against, 235; British com- 
pelled to "return to, 237; maintains 
small naval force on Great Lakes, 
243. 

Canary Islands, Columbus at, 7. 

Cape Breton, origin of name, 27; 
Cabot touches near, 41. 

Cape Charles, 45. 

Cape Cod, named by Gosnold, 44. 

Cape Fear,Verrazauo touches near, 27. 



Cape Fear River settlement, 82. 

Cape Henry, 45. 

Cape of Good Hope rounded, 2, 15. 

Capital, national, first in New York, 
190; Hamilton's promise regarding, 
194; located at Washington, D.C., 
216. 

Capitol at Washington, extended, 
297. 

Caravels, Columbus's vessels, 7. 

Carnegie, Andrew, 395. 

Carolina, 82; divided, 84. 

Carpenters' Hall, Philadelphia, 136. 

" Carpet Baggers," 363. 

Carroll, Charles, his signature, 151. 

Carrying trade, American, 22(i, 250. 

Cartier, Jacques, discoverer, 28. 

Cedar Mountain, battle of , 344. 

Census, first, 197. 

Centennial of 1876, 370. 

Central America, conquered by Spain, 
15; remains of ancient civilization 
in, 19; republics set up in, 246; 
Walker's expedition to, 313. 

Cerro Gordo, Mexico, battle of, 285. 

Cervera, Admiral, 388. 

Chadd's Ford, battle of, 166. 

Chambersburg, Pa., burned, 351. 

Champlain, French explorer, 29, 31; 
founds Quebec, 29 ; gains victory 
over Iroquois Indians, 31. 

Chancellorsville, battle of, 348. 

Chapultepec, rock of, taken, 286. 

Charles I. of England, dissolves Par- 
liament, 52 ; wars with Parliament, 
61 ; executed, 61 ; gives George Cal- 
vert charter to Maryland, 77. 

Charles II. of England, comes to 
throne, 62 ; takes charter from 
Massachusetts, 64 ; yearly tribute 
from Penn, 74; loyalty to, in Vir- 
ginia, 80 ; makes grants in the Caro- 
linas, 82. 

Charleston, S.C, in colonial times, 83, 
84, 114 : British attack on, 147 : cap- 
tured (1780), 173;' evacuated, 178; 
convention of 1860 in, 316; forts in 
harbor, 321 ; evacuated, 354. 

Charlestown, Mass., settled, 53; battle 
of Bunker Hill, 141. 

Charter Oak, 65. 

Charters of New England colonies, 
void, 64 ; restored, &^. 

Chase, Salmon P., and the national 
currency, 347. 

Chattanooga, siege of, 349. 

Chesapeake affair, 227. 

Chesapeake Bay, entered by Captain 
Newport, 45 ; by George Calvert, 76. 

Chester, Penn holds Assembly at, 75. 



15 



INDEX 



Chicago, probable origin of name, 31 ; 
growth of, 263; fire, 367; World's 
Columbian Exposition at, 383. 

Chickamauga, battle of, 349. 

Chickasaw Indians, 23. 

Chinese immigration, 376, 377. 

Chippewa, battle of, 235. 

Choctaw Indians, 23. 

Christian Indians, 63. 

Christina of Sweden, interest of, in 
New Sweden, 37. 

Church of England, Separatists leave, 
48, 49 ; Purftans members of, 52. 

Churches, social rank in, 106, 107 ; and 
the State, 201, 202. 

Churubusco, Mexico, battle of, 286. 

Cincinnati, Ohio, settled, 219. 

Cincinnati, order of, 358. 

Cipaugo, a name for Japan, 7. 

Circumnavigation of globe, by Magel- 
lan's men, 15 ; by Drake, 41. 

Cities, rapid growth of, 301, 302. 

Civil Ridits Bill, 362. 

Civil Service Reform, 368. 

Clark, George Rogers, 172. 

Clarke, William, 221. 

Clay, Henry, war party leader, 230; 
effects Missouri Compromise, 263; 
leader of Whig party, 269; sketch, 
269 ; portrait, 270 ; proposes Com- 
promise Tariff, 274; nominated 
against Polk, 282; proposes Com- 
promise of 1850, 294; seeks to pre- 
serve Union by compromise, 295. 

Cleveland, Grover, first administra- 
tion, 379, 381; portrait, sketch, 
380; second administration, 383, 
384. 

Cleveland, Ohi(., staked out, 218. 

Cliff-dwellers, 16, 19. 

Clinton, De Witt, and the Erie Canal, 
252. 

Clinton, George, governor of New 
York, 178, 201. 

Clinton, General Sir Henry, sent to 
relieve Burgoyne, 167; at New 
York, 170, 176; too late to help 
Coruwallis, 177. 

Clubs, political, favor Fi-ench Revolu- 
tion, 210. 

Coal regions, 254, 255. 

Coat-of-arms, definition, xiv. 

Cockburn, Admiral, 235. 

Codfish, in Massachusetts House of 
Representatives, 105. 

Coinage, of money in Massachusetts, 
64; decimal, invented by Jefferson, 
149; free, 386. 

Colonies, English, see English Colonies. 

Colonization Society, 303. 



Colorado, part of the Mexican cession, 
286; added to Union, 370. 

Columbia, S.C., Sherman takes, 354. 

Colorado River, Coronado at, 16. 

Columbia River, reached by Lewis and 
Clarke, 222; discovered by Captain 
Gray, 289. 

Columbus, Bartholomew, in England, 
3 ; map of America, 12. 

Columbus, Christopher, early life, 1 ; 
his purpose to sail west to Asia, 1 ; 
goes to Lisbon, 2; inspired by 
travels of Marco Polo, 2 ; asks King 
of Portugal to aid him, 3; seeks 
Ferdinand and Isabella, 3; at La 
Rribida, 5; Isabella convinced, 5; 
agreement of Ferdinand and Isabella 
with, 6 ; fleet of, 6 ; incidents of the 
voyage, 7-9; landing, 9; portrait, 
10; sails back to Spain, 11; coat-of- 
arms of, 11 ; other voyages, 12; dies 
in poverty, 12 ; descendant of, visits 
United States in 1893, 12. 

Columbus, Diego, Christopher's son, 5. 

Commerce and Labor, Department of, 
399. 

Commissioner of Patents, first ap- 
pointed, 250. 

Committee of Secret Correspondence, 
154. 

Committees of Correspondence, 132, 
135. 

Commonwealth, English, 61, 62. 

Compromise of 1850, 2i»4, 295; sup- 
posed to have repealed Missouri 
Compromise, 311. 

Compromise tariff. Clay's, 274. 

Concord, Mass., battle of, 136-138; 
Emerson's lines on, 138. 

Confederate Statesof America, formed, 
319; Davis chosen President, 320; 
seize Federal property, 320; open 
attack on United States, 325 ; waver- 
ing States join, 326 ; Richmond be- 
comes capital of, 327; look to 
Europe for help, 332, 333; sympathy 
for, in England, 333; come to an 
end, 356; plan for recognizing their 
existence in the Union, 359, 360. 

Confederation of the States, Articles 
of, 153; first step to real union, 154; 
lack of money, 1()8; States relin- 
quish Western lands to, 182 ; a 
nation forming from, 183; failure 
of, 185. 

Congregational church, early predomi- 
nance of, 107. 

Congress of the United States, Appen- 
dix 1-4; first meeting, 190; at- 
tempts to forbid right of petition, 



16 



INDEX 



281 ; seeks conciliation between 
North and South, 322; passes bills 
over Johnson's vetoes, ofil, 3G2; all 
seceding States again represented 
in, 364. See also Continental Con- 
gress. 

Congress, frigate, 338. 

Connecticut, meaning of name, 3*); 
settlement of, 3(), 51) ; Dutch crowded 
out of, 62, 63; charter disappears, 
64, 65; cut up into little towns, 109; 
slow in renouncing royal charter, 
148; reserves Western Reserve, 218. 

Constantinople, captured by Turks, 2. 

Constitution of the United States, 
drafted, 186; discussion over, 187; 
ratification, 188; strengthens the 
Union, 188; to be interpreted by Su- 
preme Court, 192; amendments in- 
frequent, 192; Bill of Rights added 
as amendments, 193; apportionment 
of representatives in, 260, 261; pro- 
tects rights of slaveholders, 295 ; 
later amendments to, 361, 3()2; su- 
premacy of. Appendix 8 ; text. Ap- 
pendix 1-12. 

Constitution, frigate, 233. 

Constitutional convention, 185, 186. 

Constitutional-Union party, 316. 

Continental, meaning of the word, 
140. 

Continental army. See American 
army. 

Continental congress, first, 135 ; sec- 
ond, meets, 139; assumes control of 
American army, 140; advises forma- 
tion of States, 147, 148; adopts 
Declaration of Independence, 149; 
draws up Articles of Confederation, 
153; sends commissioners abroad, 
154; leaves Philadelphia, 166; im- 
paired credit of, 1()8; rebukes Con- 
way Cabal, 1(59; financial stress of, 
171; issues letters of marque, 172; 
methods of raising money, 181 ; falls 
Into disrepute, 185 ; meets in New 
York, 190. 

Continental currency, 171, 181, 182. 

Contraband of war, negroes declared, 
332. 

Contreras, Mexico, battle of, 286. 

Conway Cabal, 169. 

Cooper, James Fenimore, 304. 

Cooper, Peter, 254. 

Cornwallis, Lord, at Princeton, 1(53; 
at Camden, 174; at Yorktown, 17(5, 
177. 

Coronado's expedition, 16. 

Cortez, Hernando, 15, 17. 

Cotton, Rev. John, 53. 



Cotton, cotton gin, etc., 198-200. 

Cotton spnmers, English, sympathize 
with the Union, 334. 

Court-martial, definition, 158. 

Cowpens, battle of, 175. 

Craigie House, Cambridge, 108. 

Crazy Horse, 373. 

Creek Indians, 23, 235, 244. 

Cromwell, Oliver, 61, (52. 

Crown Point, taken by Amherst, 96; 
by Ethan Allen, 143; map, 164. 

Cruisers, Confederate, 333. 

Cuba, Columbus coasts by, 11 ; effort 
for purchase of, 313; gains inde- 
pendence, 38(>-390, 393 ; intervention 
in, 400. 

Cumberland, war ship, 338. 

Currency, tobacco used for, 80; con- 
tinental, 171, 181, 182; during war 
for the Union, 34(5. 

Cushing, Lieutenant, blows up the Al- 
bemarle, 352. 

Custer, General George A., 372, 373. 

,Cutler, Manasseh, 219. 

Dare, Virginia, 43. 

Davis, Jefferson, President of Confed- 
erate States, 320; portrait, sketch, 
320; training of, 325; flight and cap- 
ture, 355, 356 ; later years, 356. 

Dawes Bill, 379. 

Dearborn, General Henry, 231. 

Debt, national, at close of Revolution, 
181 ; Hamilton's scheme for, 193, 194 ; 
paid off, 275 ; after the war for the 
Union, 374, 375. 

Decatur, Stephen, 225, 233, 239. 

Declaration of Independence, 149-151 ; 
celebration since, 151 ; popular in 
France, 155. 

Deerfield, Mass., attack on, 91. 

Delaware, Lord, 48. 

Delaware, set off from Pennsylvania, 
76, 78; ratifies Constitution, 187. 

Delaware Indians, 76. 

Delaware River, explored, 36; Swedish 
colony on, 37; Maryland's claim to 
settlements on, 78. 

Demarcation, line of, 13. 

Democratic party, founded, 269; con- 
vention of 18(50, 316; favors free 
coinage, 386. 

Democi-atic-Republican party, 214 ; op- 
poses Alien and Sedition Laws, 215, 
21(5; no longer opposed to national 
assertion, 242. 

Dependency, 391. 

Detroit, 277; Hull surrenders, 231. 

Dewey, Commodore George, 388, 389. 

Dickinson, John, iu Congress, 149. 



17 



INDEX 



Dinwiddie, Governor, 92. 

Direct tax, definition, 117. 

Dissenters, (>*.), 70. 

District of Columbia, petitions con- 
cerning slavery in, 281; slave trade 
abolished in, 295. 

Dorchester, Mass., 53. 

Dorchester Heights, 145. 

Douglas, Stephen Arnold, introduces 
Kansas-Nebraska bill, 311 ; debates 
with Lincoln, 324; nominated for 
President, 316. 

Dover, N.H., settled, 59. 

Drake, Sir Francis, 41. 

Dred Scott decision, 314. 

Duer, William, in Congress, 109. 

Dutch, enterprise of, 34; settle New 
Netherland, 36 ; invade New Sweden , 
37 ; in Connecticut, 56 ; dispossessed 
of New Netherland, 62, (53; lose set- 
tlements in Delaware, 78 ; life of, in 
colonial New York, 109. 

Duties on colonial imports and ex- 
ports, 121 ; on imports, for revenue, 
194. See also Tariff ; Taxation. 

Eads, Captain J. B., 237, 263. 

Early, General, 351, 352. 

East India Company, 34, 35 ; sends tea 
to America, 133, 134. 

East Indies, a new route to, sought by 
Portuguese, 2 ; thought to have been 
found by Columbus, 11; reached by 
Magellan, 14; commerce of Dutch 
with, 34, 109. 

Edison, Thomas Alva, inventor, 371. 

Edmunds, George F., 195, 376. 

Education, early history of, in United 
States, 200, 201 ; societies formed to 
promote, 303. See also Schools. 

El Dorado, 288, 292. 

Electoral Commission, 373. 

Electricity, inventions in, 298, 372. 

Eliot, John, apostle to Indians, 59. 

Elizabeth, Virginia named for, 42. 

Emancipation Proclamation, 347. 

Embargo Act, 227. 

Emerson, Ralph Waldo, 306. 

England, intent on finding new way to 
India, 41; sends ventures to Amer- 
ica, 41-59; Puritan Commonwealth 
in, 61, 62 ; benefit of Navigation Acts 
to, 62; war with Holland and Spain, 
62 ; takes possession of New Nether- 
land, 63; commerce with colonies, 
104; power of parties in, 120; treat- 
ment of colonies, 121-135, 203, (see 
also English Colonies) ; declares war 
on France, 167 ; makes peace with 
United States, 178; seeks control of 



commerce with States after Revolu- 
tion , 183 ; refuses to abandon West- 
ern posts, 184; cotton interest in, 
199, 200 ; war with French Republic, 
210; claims right of search, 211; 
Jay's treaty with, 211, 212; Napo- 
leon aims to destroy commerce of, 
226; quarrel with United States 
(1806-1812), 226-230; United States 
declares war on, 230; signs treaty of 
Ghent, 238; alarmed at Holy Alli- 
ance, 247; claims on Pacific coast, 
289 ; demands Mason and Slidell, 333 ; 
attitude towards Union, 333, 334; 
concludes treaty of Washington, 366, 
367 ; dispute with Venezuela, 384. 

English Colonies, trade restricted by 
Navigation Acts, (52; charters re- 
voked by James II., 64, 65; differ- 
ences between French America and, 
88; suspicious of French, and con- 
temptuous of Indians, 89 ; hold con- 
gress at Albany to resist French, 92 ; 
learn to rely on their own military 
strength, 93 ; almost supreme in 
Nortii America, 99; life in, 103-117; 
newspapers in, 118; plans for union 
among, 117-119; political liberty in, 
119, 120; restriction of trade and 
manufactures, 121; smuggling in, 
122 ; Writs of Assistance obnoxious 
to, 122, 123; object to taxation with- 
out representation, 123 ; resist Stamp 
Act, 124-128 ; form into States, 147. 

Enterprise, steamer, goes to India, 253. 

Envoy Extraordinary, 211. 

Era of Good Feeling, 242. 

Ericsson, Captain John, 339. 

Erie Canal, 252. 

Europe, dependence of America upon, 
209; wars of Napoleon in, 224-227; 
admits equal rights on the seas, to 
United States, 239; United States 
becomes independent of, 241 ; atti- 
tude of Monroe Doctrine toward, 
248; commercial relations with 
South, 333. 

Expeditious, government, 299. 

Falmouth, Me., burned by British, 143. 

Faneuil, Peter, 107. 

Faneuil Hall, 107, 108. 

Farewell Address, Washington's, 213. 

Farming, primitive, 197, 198. 

Farragut, Admiral, 337, 338, 352. 

Federalist, the, 187. 

Federalist party, favors central gov- 
ernment, 193; distrustful of French 
Revolution, 210; passes Alien and 
Sedition Laws, 215; waning power 



lb 



INDEX 



of, 218 ; accused of plotting secession, 
229; in New England, opposes War 
of 1812, 230; at Hartford Conven- 
tion, 238; becomes unpopular, 241, 
242. 

Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain, rela- 
tions with Columbus, 3, 6, 11. 

" Fifty-four forty or fight," 291. 

Filibustering by Walker in Nicara- 
gua, 313. 

Fillmore, Millard, President, 287, 297. 

Finance, national, Hamilton's plans 
of, 191, 193, 191; during period of 
war for the Union, 346, 347. 

Firelands, 219. 

Fisheries, colonial, 104, 105; impor- 
tance of Fishing Banks, 27, 89, 178. 

Five Nations, 23. See Six Nations. 

Flag, 145, 153. 

Florida, discovered and named, 14, 
15; Spanish settlement in, 16; Hu- 
guenots in, 28; given up by Spain, 
99, 246; Jackson carries Seminole 
War into, 244, 246; admitted to 
Union, 283. 

Food of colonists, 106. 

Fool's gold, 47. 

Foote, Admiral, 335, 337. 

Fort Bowyer, 238. 

Fort Caroline, 38. 

Fort Christina, 37. 

Fort Dearborn, 263. 

Fort Donelson, captured, 334, 335. 

Fort du Quesne, built, 92; taken, 96. 

Fort Erie, 236. 

Fort Frontenac, destroyed, 96. 

Fort Henry, captured, 333, 3M. 

Fort Laramie, 292. 

Fort Lee, abandoned, 161. 

Fort McHenry, British repulsed at, 
237. 

Fort Mackinaw, 231, 235. 

Fort Maiden, 231, 234. 

Fort Meigs, 2:34. 

Fort Miami, 32. 

Fort Mirams, captured, 235. 

Fort Moultrie, in 1860, 321. 

Fort Niagara, captured, 96. 

Fort Orange, 35, 36, 63. 

Fort Pillow, abandoned by Confeder- 
ates, 337. 

Fort Pitt, 96. 

Fort St. Louis, on the Illinois, 33. 

Fort Stanwix, 165; treaty of, 203. 

Fort Stephenson, 234. 

Fort Sumter, 321 ; taken by Confeder- 
ates, 325, 326; demolished by Union 
guns, 354; flag again raised over, 
355. 

Fort Ticonderoga, captured, 143, 



Fort Wagner, 347. 

Fort Washington, captured, 161. 

Forts, chain of, projected by La Salle, 
32, 33; seizure of Federal, by Con- 
federacy, 320, 321. 

Fourth of July, 150, 151. 

Fox, George, teachings of, 69, 70. 

France, fishermen from, visit America, 
27; explorations in America, 27, 28; 
settles Canada, 28, 29; influence on 
Indians, 30 ; Mississippi Valley taken 
possession of for, 32; aids La Salle, 
33 ; gives up American possessions, 
99 ; United States desires aid of, 154, 
155; formal alliance with, 167; pol- 
icy to recover Mississippi Valley, 
171 ; interest concerning United 
States in, 209; Republic declares 
war with England, 210 ; wishes aid 
of United States, 211 ; quarrel with 
United States, 214-216; Louisiana 
ceded to, by Spain, 220; sells Lousi- 
ana to United States, 221 ; neutrality 
in Civil War, 333 ; in Mexico, 365, 
366. See also French. 

Franklin, Benjamin, sketch. 111, 112; 
portrait, 113; Albany Plan of Union, 
118; opinion of Stamp Act, 127; on 
cost of Revolution to England, 145 ; 
anecdote of, 151 ; commissioner to 
France, 155 ; signs treaty of peace, 
178 ; efforts for closer union of 
States, 186. 

Franklin, Sir John, explorer, 310. 

Franklin, State of, 184. 

Franklin stove, 112. 

Frederica, Ga., 86. 

Frederick the Great, 96, 155. 

Fredericksburg, battle of, 344. 

Free coinage, 386. 

Free Soil party, formed, 287. 

Free trade, 257. 

Freedmen, 361-363. 

Fremont, Captain John C, marches 
to Monterey, 285 ; expeditions of, 
299 ; candidate of Republican party, 
314; declares certain slaves freed, 
332; repulsed by Stonewall Jack- 
son, a42. 

French America, 26-33; English not 
friendly to, 88, 89; military superi- 
ority to English, 90; encroaches on 
Ohio Company, 92. 

French and Indian War, 92-99; pri- 
vateering in New England during, 
109; Franklin furnishes supplies 
during, 112; adds to debt of Eng- 
land, 122. 

French fieet at Newport, 170, 171; 
helps trap Cornwallis, 176. 



19 



moEx 



Freuchtown, 234. 

Friends, 70; persecuted, 70; in New- 
Jersey and Pennsylvania, 72, 73, 
111; in Maryland, 78; expel General 
Greene, 175. 

Frontiersmen, 202, 203; in the Revo- 
lution, 172. 

Fugitive Slave LaW, 295. 

Fugitive slaves, 2G1. 

Fulton, Robert, inventor, 253. 

Funston, General Frederick, 392. 

Fur trade, tempts explorers, 29; fur 
traders settle Manhattan Island, 35 ; 
St. Louis the center of Western, 290. 

Gadsden, General James, 286. 

Gage, General, 135, 136, 145. 

Galena, 111., 262, 335. 

Garfield, James Abram, 375, 376. 

Garrison, William Lloyd, 279, 280. 

Gates, General Horatio, at Saratoga, 
167; in Conway Cabal, 169; in the 
South, 174, 175. 

Genet, Edmond Charles, 211. 

Geneva Arbitration, 367. 

Genoa, 1-3. 

George III., policy of, 120; maintains 
right to tax colonies, 133; deter- 
mines to crush the Revolution, 144; 
tyrannical acts, 149; hires Hessians, 
159; his hatred for Chatham, 167; 
agrees to treaty of peace, 178. 

Georgia, colonial history, 84-86; Brit- 
ish seize, 171; public lands of, 182; 
Indians in, 267. 

Germans, in Pennsylvania, 73, 111 ; in 
South Carolina, 84 ; in Georgia, 85. 

Germantown, Pa., settled, 73; battle 
of, 166. 

Germany, emigration from, 300, 301. 

Gerry, Elbridge, envoy to France, 214. 

Gettysburg, battle of, 349. 

Ghent, treaty of, 238. 

Gibbs, General, 238. 

Gila River, boundary, 286. 

Gloucester, Va., 176,' 177. 

Glover, General John, 163. 

Gold, taken to Spain by Columbus, 
11 ; an object of Spanish conquests, 
15; London Company's search for, 
46 ; pyrites mistaken for, 47 ; dis- 
covery of, in California, 292. 

Gold standard, 386. 

Gorges, Sir Ferdinando, 59. 

Gosnold, Bartholomew, 44. 

Gosport Navy Yard, 337, 339. 

Grand Army of the Republic, 357. 

Grangers, Order of, 368, 

Grant, General Ulysses S., sketch, 
;!34, 335; portrait, 336; takes Forts 



Henry and Donelson, 334, 335 ; 
takes Vicksburg, 349; commander- 
in-chief, 350; Virginia campaigns, 
350, 354, 355; administration Of, 
3(54-368 ; later years, death, 377-379. 

Grasse, Count de, 176. 

Gray, Captain Robert, 289. 

Great Britain, see England. 

Great Commoner, see Pitt, William. 

Great Harry, English ship, 40. 

Great Lakes, explored by La Salle, 
32 ; held by Great Britain till 1795, 
202 ; as a bond of peace, 243. 

Greeley, Horace, 345. 

Green Mountain Boys, 195. 

"Greenbacks," 347. 

Greene, General Nathanael, 175, 176. 

Grenada, surrendered by Monrs, 5. 

Guam, 389. 

Guilford Court House, battle of, 176. 

Guthrie, Oklahoma, settled, 383. 

Hale, Captain Nathan, spy, 160. 

Halifax, 91, 94. 

Hamilton, British colonel, 172. 

Hamilton, Alexander, portrait, sketch, 
187; defends Constitution, 187; in- 
fluence in New York, 188 ; Secretary 
of the Treasury, 1«>0-194; defends 
Jay's treaty, 212; killed in duel 
with Burr, 222. 

Hamlin, Hannibal, 316. 

Hampton Roads, fight in, 338, 339. 

Hampton School, 363. 

Hancock, John, 150, 151. 

Happy Hunting Grounds, 24. 

Harper's Ferry, raid at, 315. 

Harris, Townsend, 299. 

Harrison, Benjamin, 381, 382. 

Harrison, William Henry, defeats 
Tecumseh, 229; in War of 1812, 
234; portrait, 280; President, 281; 
sketch, 281, 282. 

Hartford, settled, 56. 

Hartford Convention, 238. 

Harvard College, 55, 59, 107. 

Hawaiian Islands annexed, 390. 

Hawthorne, Nathaniel, 304, 305. 

Hayes, Rutherford B., 373, 374. 

Hayne, Robei't Yoimg, 271. 

Hayti, named Hispaniola, 11. 

Hendricks, Thomas A., 379. 

Hennepin, Louis, 32. 

Henry, Joseph, scientist, 298. 

Henry, Patrick, 124-126. 

Henry the Navigator, Prince, 2. 

Herkimer, General, at battle of Oris- 
kany, 165. 

Hessians, hired soldiers, 159. 

Hispaniola, 11. 



20 



INDEX 



Holland, character of, 34; Separatists 
in, 48, 4S(; wars with En<>iand, ()2, 
G3. See also Dutcli. 

Holmes, Dr. Oliver Wendell, 308. 

Holy Alliance, 246. 

Homestead Bill, 254. 

Honduras, ruins in, 20. 

Hood, General, 353. 

Hooker, General Joseph, 348. 

House of the Dwarf, 20. 

Houses, in colonial New York, 109. 

Houston, General Sam, 279. 

Howe, General Sir William, sails from 
Boston, to Halifax, 145, 147; enters 
New York harbor, 159; wins battle 
of Long Island, KJO; addresses Wash- 
ington as a civilian, 1(50; captures 
Fort Washington, Kil ; cooped up, 
163; enters Philadelphia, 166; fails 
to relieve Burgoyne, 167; succeeded 
by Clinton, 170. 

Howe, Lord, 15i). 

Hudson, Henry, discoveries of, 35. 

Hudson River, discovery, 35 ; in Revo- 
lution, 159, 161; Fulton's steamboat 
on, 253. 

Hudson's Bay, 35. 

Hudson's Bay Company, 290. 

Huguenots, 28, 84, 104. 

Hull, Captain Isaac, 233. 

Hull, General William, 231, 232. 

Huron Indians, and Champlain, 30. 

Hutchinson, Thomas, 131, 132. 

Iberville, Sieur d', 33. 

Idaho, added to Union, 383. 

Illinois, brought under control of 

United States, 172 ; added to Union, 

256; slavery contest in, 262, 263. 
Illinois Central Railroad, 299. 
Illinois Indians, 31, 90. 
Immigration, increase, 300-302, 365. 
Impeachment of President Johnson, 

364. 
Impressment of seamen, 226, 227, 229. 
Independence, movement for, 148; 

Declaration of, 149-151; war for, 

158-179. 
Independence, Mo., Mormons at, 293. 
Independence Hall, 151; i)ictures, 152, 

186 ; Constitutional Convention 

meets in, 185. 
India, Virginia supposed to be near, 

46; cotton in, 199, 2 0. 
Indian names, 23. 
Indiana, brought under control of 

United States, 172; formed from 

Northwest Territory, 218 ; added to 

Union, 25(5; slavery gets footing in, 

262. 



Indians, reasons for name, 11; cliff 
dwellings of, 16; and Spaniards, 16, 
17 ; general account of, 20-24 ; Jesuit 
missions to, 30; and French, 30; 
with La Salle, 32; aid Jamestown 
colonists, 4(5; unjustly treated by 
governors of Virginia, 48; friendly 
to Pilgrims, 52; befriend Roger 
Williams, 58 ; treatment of, by Eng- 
lish, 59, 89; attempts at Christianiz- 
ing, 59; protections against, (50 ; Pe- 
quot War, 60, 61 ; King Philip's War, 
63 ; many sold into slavery, (53, 84 ; 
and Penn, 73-75; a cause of Bacon's 
Rebellion, 81 ; Pontiac's war, 99, 
100; in New York, 110; difficulties 
with, cause plans of union in colo- 
nies, 118 ; Wayne's victory over, 212 ; 
hostilities under Tecumseh, 229; in 
War of 1812, 231 ; United States deals 
with Indian tribes, 243; movements 
of tribes, 243, 244; continuance of 
war with, 244; Seminole War, 244; 
St. Louis center of Western trade 
with, 2(53; troubles in Georgia, 2(57; 
wronged by Indian agents, 372; 
Sioux War, 372, 373; allotment of 
lands to, 379. 

Indies, see East Indies ; West Indies. 

Industries, early, in United States, 
197, 198. 

Inflation period, 275. 

Intellectual life, 3(J2, 303. 

Interior Department, created, 297. 

Internal improvements, 252, 270. 

Interstate Commerce Acts, 3(58, 379, 
399, 400. 

Inventions, 249, 250. 

Iowa, added to the Union, 288. 

Ireland, immigration from, 300. 

Irish, in colonies, 84, 111. 

Iron regions, 254, 255. 

Iron works, 200. 

Ironclads, .339. 

Iroquois Indians, in New York, 23, 
110; Champlain attacks, 30; ene- 
mies of the French, 31 ; attack La 
Chine, 90. 

Irrigation, in Utah, 293. 

Irving, Washington, 304. 

Isabella and Columbus, 3, 5, 6. 

Island Number Ten, captured, 337. 

Isthmian Canal, 396, 397. 

Jackson, Andrew, in command against 
the Creeks, 235 ; defensive prepara- 
tions at New Orleans, 238; wins 
battle of New Orleans, 238; carries 
Seminole War into Florida, 244, 246 ; 
portrait, sketch, 245; Spain protests 



21 



INDEX 



against, 246 ; election of, 268 ; popu- 
larity, 268, 269; as a " jiractical poli- 
tician," 271; opposes nullification, 
274 ; hostile to Bank of United States, 
274, 275; issues specie circular, 275; 
tries to buy Texas, 278. 

Jackson, General T. J. (" Stonewall "), 
342, 348. 

Jalapa, Mexico, taken, 285. 

Jamaica, taken by England, 62. 

James I. of England, puts Raleigh to 
death, 43 ; favors Virginia Company, 
44 ; James River named for, 45 ; hos- 
tile to tobacco, 48. 

James II. of England, 64, 65. See also 
York, Duke of. 

James River, named, 45; settlements 
on, 48. 

Jamestown, settled, 44, 45 ; burned, 81. 

Japan, Columbus hoped to reach, 7, 
11; Perry's expedition to, 299; first 
treaty with, 310. 

Java, British ship, captured, 233. 

Jay, John, signs treaty of peace, 178; 
defends Constitution, 187; sketcli, 
187; first Chief Justice, 191; forms 
treaty with England, 211, 212. 

Jay's treaty, 211, 212; almost causes 
war with France, 214. 

Jefferson, Thomas, Declaration of In- 
dependence mainly by, 149; sketch 
of, 149; portrait, loO; first Secretary 
of State. 190; his infiuence, 191; 
chosen Vice President, 214 ; Presi- 
dent, 218; Lonisiana purchase, 221; 
reelected President, 221 ; arrests 
Burr's schemes, 222; favors em- 
bargo, 227; deplores slavery, 259; 
death, 265. 

Jenckes, Thomas A., civil service re- 
former, 368. 

Jesuit missions to the Indians, 30. 

Jesuit Relatione, 30. 

Jolinson, Andrew, President, 360-362; 
impeachment of, 364. 

Johnson, Dr. Samuel, a Tory, 123. 

Johnson, Sir William, urge's Six Na- 
tions to join English, 92, 93 ; keeps 
Six Nations from joining Pontiac, 
100; inflnence with Indians, 110. 

Johnston, General Albert Sidney, 335, 
336. 

Johnston, General J. E., in command 
of Confederate forces, 330; cam- 
paign in Virginia, 339-342 ; campaign 
near Atlanta, 353; in North Caro- 
lina, 354; surrenders, 356. 

Johnstown, N.Y., 110. 

Joliet, Louis, explorer, 31. 

Jones, John Paul, 173. 



Kalb, John, 155, 174. 

Kane, Elisha Kent, explorer, 310. 

Kansas, part of, in Mexican cession, 
286; conflict in, 312, 313: admitted 
to Union. 322. 

Kansas-Nebraska Bill, 310-312, 

Kaskaskia, mission at, 31. 

Kearney, Colonel Stephen W., 284. 

Kearsarge, sinks Alabama, 352. 

Keats, John, sonnet of, 14. 

Kentucky, county of, formed, 172; 
threatens secession from Virginia, 
184; beginnings of, 203, 204; ad- 
mitted to Union, 204. 

Kentucky Resolutions, 216. 

Key, Francis Scott, poet, 237. 

King George's War, 91. 

King Philip's War, 63. 

King William's War, 90, 91. 

Kingston, Canada, 32. 

Kirtland, Ohio, Mormons at, 293. 

Knox, General Henry, Secretary, 190. 

Kosciusko, in Continental army, 155. 

Labor, Bureau of, 381, 399. 

La Chine, settled, 32; massacre at, 90. 

Lafayette, Marquis de, joins Continen- 
tal army, 155; portrait, 156; refuses 
to join Conway Cabal, 169; keeps 
Cornwallisat bay, 176; sends key of 
Bastile to Washington, 210. 

Lake Borgne, British move to, 238. 

Lake Champlain, naval force on, 243. 

Lake Erie, Perry's victory on, 234; 
early steam navigation on, 253. 

Lake Huron, Champlain on, 31. 

Lake Ontario, La Salle builds fort on, 
32 ; naval force on, 243. 

La Rabida, Columbus at, 5. 

La Salle, Chevalier de, 32, 33. 

Lawrence, Kansas, attack on, 312. 

Lecompton Constitution, 312. 

Lee, General Charles, 162, 170. 

Lee, " Light Horse Harry," 343. 

Lee, Richard Henry, submits resolu- 
tion for independence, 148. 

Lee, General Robert E., commander of 
Confederate forces, 342 ; portrait, 
sketch, 343 ; wins at Manassas, 343; 
defeats Burnside, 344; defeats 
Hooker, 348; defeated at Gettys- 
burg, 349; retreats from Peters- 
burg, 352 ; surrenders, 355. 

Lenni Lenape, 69, 76. 

Leopai'd and Chesapeake, 227. 

Letters of marque, 172. 

Lewis and Clarke's expedition, 221. 

Lexington, battle of, 136-138. 

Leyden, Separatists settle in, 48. 

Liberator, newspaper, 279, 280. 



22 



INDEX 



Liberia, 303. 

Liberty, political, in America, 119, 120. 

Liberty Bell, 151, 157. 

Liberty Tree, Boston, 126, 127. 

Libraries, public, 201. 

Lightning rods, invented by Franklin, 
112. 

Lincoln, Abraham, portrait, 240; first 
election of, 316; early life, 323; 
political career, 324 ; troubles await- 
ing him as President, 325 ; calls for 
volunteers, 326 ; countermands Fre- 
mont's proclamation, 332; issues 
Emancipation Proclamation, 347 ; 
reelected , 355 ; visits Richmond, 355; 
assassination of, 355, 356; eager to 
restore seceding States, 360. 

Lincoln-Douglas debates, 324. 

Line of Demarcation in 1494, 13. 

Literature, American, 303-308. 

Locomotives, early, 254. 

Log cabin and hard cider campaign, 
282. 

Log houses, 105. 

London Company for Virginia, 44 ; 
settles Jamestown, 45 ; colony under 
government of, 79; loses charter, 79. 

Long Island, battle of, 159, 160. 

Longfellow, Henry W., 306, 307, 108. 

Lookout Mountain, 350. 

Louis XVI. of France, 155, 167. 

Louisburg, captured by New England 
expedition, 91; restored to French, 
91 ; French fleet at, 95 ; taken by 
English, 96. 

Louisiana, claimed and so named by 
La Salle, 33; made over to Spain, 
99 ; Spain cedes territory to France, 
220 ; Napoleon sells Louisiana to 
United States, 221; State admitted 
to Union, 237. 

Lowell, James Russell, 308. 

Loyal Legion, military order of, 357. 

Loyalists, 151, 152; question of restor- 
ing their property, 178, 184. 

Lundy's Lane, battle of, 236. 

Lyceum, popularity of, 303. 

Lynch, Lieutenant, 299. 

McClellan, General George B., in com- 
mand of Union forces, 330; sketch, 
330, 331 ; attempt on Richmond, 339- 
342; at Antietam, 344. 

McClure, Captain, 41. 

McCormick, Cyrus, inventor, .301. 

Macdonough, Lieutenant, 237. 

McDowell r General, 342. 

Macedonian, the, captured, 233. 

Machinery, early necessity for, 249; 
patents granted for, 250. 



McKinley, William, election of, 384, 
386; portrait, sketch, 385; second 
election of, 395 ; death of, 396. 

McKinley Tariff Bill, 383. 

Macomb, General, 237. 

Madison, James, defends Constitution, 
187 ; helps secure adoption of Con- 
stitution in Virginia, 192, 193; 
draughts Bill of Rights, 193; helps 
abolish religious tests, 201; draws 
Virginia Resolutions, 216 ; President, 
227, 230; portrait and sketch, 228; 
his apportionment of representa- 
tives, 260, 261. 

Magellan, discoverer, 14, 15. 

Magellan, Strait of, first passed, 14. 

Mails, early, 117, 118. 

Maine, meaning of name, 40; settle- 
ments begun in, 59; included in 
Massachusetts Colony, 104, 264; 
England wants to keep part of, 178; 
admission to Union, 256, 263-265. 

Maine, battleship, 387. 

Manassas, second battle of, 344. 

Manhattan Island, 35, 36. 

" Manifest destiny," political cry, 283. 

Manila, captured, 388, 389. 

Manufactures, restrictions of colonial, 
121; stimulated by tariff, 250; 
growth of, in New England, 251. 

March to the sea, Sherman's, 353. 

Marion, Francis, 173. 

Marquette, Pere, explorer, 31. 

Marshall, John, Chief Justice, 192, 193; 
envoy to France, 214. 

Maryland, founding of, 77; religious 
toleration in, 77, 78 ; products of, 78 ; 
boundaries, 78, 79 ; Lee enters, 344 ; 
Early's raid in, 351. 

Mason, Captain John, 59. 

Mason and Dixon's line, 78, 79, 104. 

Mason and Slidell, 333. 

Massachusetts, Puritans first reach, 
53; early growth of, 55; General 
Court formed, 56; annoys Rhode 
Island settlements, 58; excludes 
Rhode Island from league, 61; in 
King Philip's War, 63 ; coins money, 
64 ; loses charter, 64 ; governors ap- 
pointed by crown, 66; new charter, 
66 ; colonial life and government in, 
105-108; proposes petition to the 
king, 131; quarrel with mother 
country, 134-136; education made 
compulsory in, 200, 201 ; title of, to 
Maine, 264. 

Maximilian, in Mexico, 365, 366. 

Mayflower, voyage of, 49, 51; com- 
pact signed in, 51. 

Mayflower, the flower, 39. 



23 



INDEX • 



Meade, General, 348, 349. 

Medicine men, 24. 

Mediterranean Sea, commerce on, 2 ; 
piracy on, 224. 

Memorial Day, 357. 

Memphis, surrenders, 337. 

Merrimac and Monitor, 337-339. 

Merritt, General, 388, 389. 

Mesilla Valley, purchased, 286. 

Mexico, conquest of, 15; remains of 
ancient civilization in, 19; bound- 
ary of, set at Sabine River, 24(5, 278 ; 
becomes republic, 24(5 ; supposed 
plan to permit France to have, 247; 
Texas declares independence of, 279 ; 
political weakness of, 283; war with, 
284-28(3; sells territory to United 
States, 28(5 : attempt of Napoleon 
III. in, 305, 3(5a 

Mexico, city of, captured, 285, 286. 

Michigan, reached by Nicolet, 31 ; set- 
tled, 195, 277; in War of 1812, 231, 
234; admitted to Union, 277; first 
State to adopt Australian ballot law, 
381. 

Michigan Southern Railroad, 299. 

Michili Mackinac, a center of Jesuit 
missions, 277. 

Middle colonies, life in, 110, 111. 

Miles, General Nelson A., 388. 

Militia, definition, 88; in French and 
Indian War, 93. 

"Millions for defense, but not one 
cent for tribute," 215. 

Ministers, early social rank of, 106, 

Minneapolis, bridge at, 299. 

Minnesota, admitted to Union, 315. 

Minuit, Peter, founds New Svv^eden, 37. 

Missionary Ridge, battle of, 350. 

Mississippi, territory organized, 220; 
added to Union, 256. 

Mississippi River, discovered by De 
Soto, 15, 16 ; explored by Joliet and 
Marquette, 31 ; explored by La Salle, 
32; control of, claimed by Spain, 
184; control of mouth of, 220; en- 
gineering works at mouth of, 237 ; 
in Civil War, 337, 349. 

Missouri, added to Union, 256, 2(33; 
Mormons driven from, 293; sensi- 
tiveness regarding antislayery, 312 ; 
settlers from, disturb Kansas, 312, 
313. 

Missouri Compromise, 262-265, 311. 

Missouri River, explored, 263. 

Mobile, taken from Spaniards, 235 ; 
British prevented from taking, 238. 

Mobile Bay, entered by Farragut, 352. 

Mobilians, 23. 

Mohawk Valley, 103 ; settled, 109, 218. 



Mohican Indians, with La Salle, 32. 

Molino del Rey, battle of, 286. 

Monitor and Merrimac, 337-339. 

Monmouth Court House, battle of, 170. 

Monroe, James, President, 242, 247. 

Monroe Doctrine, defined, 247 ; in- 
volved in attempt of Maximilian, 
3()6 ; in Venezuelan question, 384. 

Montana, added to Union, 383. 

Montcalm, Marquis of, 97, 99. 

Monterey, Mexico, captured, 285. 

Montezuma, conquered by Cortez, 15. 

Montgomery, General, 143, 144. 

Montgomery, Ala., Confederate gov- 
ernment formed at, 319. 

Montreal, visited by Cartier, 28; vis- 
ited by Champlain, 29: surrenders 
to English, 99; captured by Alont- 
gomery, 143. 

Monts, Comte de, establishes Port 
Royal, 29. 

Moqui Indians, 16. 

Morgan, General, at Cowpens, 175. 

Morinons, 293, 294, 37(5. 

Morrill, Justin Smith, Senator, li>5. 

Morris, Robert, 182. 

Morristown, American army at, 1(33. 

Morse, Samuel F. B., 298. 

Morton, Levi P., Vice President, 381. 

Moultrie, Colonel, 147. 

Mound builders, 19, 20. 

Mount Vernon, Washington at, 178, 
213. 

Napoleon I., makes friends With 
United States, 216; sells Louisiana, 
220, 221 ; becomes Emperor, 226 ; 
interference with our commerce, 
226, 229. 

Napoleon III. and Mexico, 365, 366. 

Nashville, battle of, 353. 

Nat Turner's insurrection, 261. 

Natchez, Spanish give up post at, 220 ; 
Burr's plot stopped at, 222. 

National banks, established, 347. 

National debt, see Debt. 

National-Republican party, becomes 
Whig party, 269. 

Nauvoo, 111., 293. 

Naval Academy, Annapolis, 303. 

Navigation Acts, (32, 81. 

Nebraska, territory, 310-313; ad- 
mitted to Union, 3(55. 

Negroes, not citizens according to 
Taney's decision, 314; as soldiers 
in war for the Union, 347, 348. See 
also Slavery, etc. 

Netherlands, 34. 

Nevada, part of Mexican cession, 28(5; 
admitted to Union, 3(55. 



24 



INDEX 



New Amsterdam, 03. 
New Eiiglaud, United Colonies of, tJl ; 
hostile to Quakers, 70; colonial life 
in, 104-10;); opposition to Embargo 
Act in, li2i); bitterness against VVar 
of 1812, 238; earlier manufacturing- 
life in, 251. 

New France, 31, 32, 90. 

New Hampshire, settled, 58; claims 
part of Vermont, 105. 

New Haven colony, 5(5. 

New Jersey, in colonial times, 72, 110, 
111. 

New Mexico, Coronado in, 16; cliff- 
dwellers in, li); in Mexican war, 
284, 28(5; a territory, 205. 

New Netherland, 3(!, 02, 03. 

New Netherland Comjniiiy, 35. 

New Orleans, made over by France to 
Spain, 00; right of deposit at, 220; 
battle of, 238; surrenders to Farra- 
gut, 337. 

New Sweden, 30, 37. 

New York, city, colonial history, 36, 
03, 110; in the Revolution, 147, 150- 
102, 178; seat of government, 190; 
developed by Erie Canal, 253. 

New York, State, colonial history, 62, 
03,72; colonial life in, 100, 110; in 
the Revolution, 131, 104; claims 
part of Vermont, 105. 

New York Bay, discovered, 27, 35. 

Newburgh, Washington at, 178. 

Newcastle, Delaware, 72, 74. 

Newfoundland, application of name, 
20 ; early fisheries off, 27 ; Calvert 
finds it too bleak for colony, 70. 

Newport, Captain Christopher, 45. 

Newport, R.I., settled, 58; French 
fleet at, 170, 171. 

Newport News, origin of name, 39, 
44. 

Newspapers, 118, 201, 303. 

Niagara Falls, discovered, 32. 

Niagara Suspension Bridge, 290. 

Nicaragua, Walker in, 313; canal, 396. 

Nicolet, Jean, explorer, 31. 

Non-Importation Agreements, 120. 

Non-IntercDurse Act, 227, 229. 

North, Lord, 130, 133, 134, 1()8. 

North, the, compared with South, 201, 
262, 320; enriched by protective 
tariff, 272; strengthened by immi- 
gration, 302. 

North Carolina, settled, 82, 83; be- 
comes separate province, 84; at- 
tempted secession of part of, 184; 
slow to ratify Constitution, 188. 

North Dakota, added to Union, 383. 

Northwest passage, efforts to find, 41. 



Northwest Territory, 182, 183, 218; 

slavery excluded from, 202. 
Nova Scotia, 27, 04. 
Nueces River, Texas boundary, 284. 
Nullification, in South Carolina, 274. 

Oglethorpe, James, 85, 86. 

Ohio, brought under control of United 

States, 172; becomes a State, 218; 

settlement of, 218, 210. 
Ohio Company, 01, 02. 
Oklahoma, territory opened, 381, 383; 

admitted as a State, 400. . 
Old Dominion, name for Virginia, 80. 
" Old Ironsides," 233. 
Olmsted, Frederick Law, studies of 

the South, 200. 
Orders in Council, 220, 231. 
Ordinance of 1787, 183, 210, 202. 
Ordinances of Secession, 319. 
Oregon, settled, 289-291; admitted to 

Union, 315. 
Oriskany, battle of, 165. 
Otis, James, 123. 

Pacific Coast, reached overland, 222; 
claimed by Spain, 243, 289; Russia's 
claims on, 247. 

Pacific Ocean, discovered and crossed, 
14 ; called South Sea, 46. 

Pacific Railroad, 254, 200, 305. 

Paine, Thomas, 148. 

Pakenham, General Sir Edward, 238. 

Palo Alto, l)attle of, 284. 

Panama, Balboa at, 14 ; Canal, 306, 
397. 

Panic of 1837, 275. 

Paris, treaty of (1703), 99; (1783), 
178., 

Parker, Captain, at Lexington, 130. 

Parliament, definition, 39 ; contest 
with Charles I., 52, 01; controlled 
by a few powerful families, 120; 
right to tax colonies questioned, 123 ; 
dispute over Stamp Act, 124-128; 
attempts tighter control of colonies, 
130 ; dispute over tax on tea, 132- 
134. 

Patent office, 249, 250. 

Patrons of Husbandry, 308. 

Patroons, 30, 110. 

Peace Conference (1861). 322. 

Pendleton Civil Service Bill, 368. 

Penn, William, 70, 71; and New Jer- 
sey, 72 ; founds Pennsylvania, 73- 
75 ; claims settlements- on the Dela- 
ware, 78. '.: 

Pennsylvania, colonial history, 73-75, 
78: colonial inhabitants of. 111; 
ratifies Coustitutiou, 188; whisky 



25 



INDEX 



rebellion in, 213; invaded by Lee, 
348; Early's raid in, 351. 

Pensacola, British at, 237, 238. 

Pensioners, 357. 

People's Party, 383, 386, 395. 

Pequot War, 60, 61. 

Perez, Juan, prior of La Rabida, 6. 

Perry, M. F., expedition to Japan, 299. 

Perry, Oliver H., on Lake Erie, 234. 

Personal Liberty laws, 295. 

Peru, conquered by Pizarro, 15. 

Petersbui-g, siege of, 350, 354. 

Petroleum, 367, 399. 

Philadelphia, colonial history, 75, 111, 
112 ; Continental Congress at, 135, 
151; map of vicinity, 163 ; British 
enter, 166 ; exliibition of 1876 at, 
370. 

Philadelphia, frigate, 225. 

Philip, Indian chief, 63. 

Philippine Islands, 388, 390-393. 

Pickens, Andrew, 173. 

Pierce, Franklin, 310-313. 

Pilgrims, Plymouth settlers, 50, 51. 

Pinckney, Charles C, 214, 220. 

Pine-tree shilling, 64. 

Pinzon, Martin, 5, 6. 

Pioneer life, 206, 207. 

Pirates, 84; Barbary, 224. 

Pitt, William, Earl of Chatham, 96, 
120; opposes Stamp Act, 127; with- 
draws from power, l.iO ; opposes 
George III., 144, 145, 1(57. 

Pittsburg, Indian attack on, 100. 

Pittsburg Landing, battle of, 335, 336. 

Pizarro, conquests by, 15. 

Plains of Abraham, battle of, 98. 

Plantation life, in Virginia, 79. 

Planters, growing power of, in Vir- 
ginia, 81, 82; methods of, 198. 

Plattsburg, British repulsed at, 237. 

Plymouth, Mass., 50, 51. 

Plymouth Company, 44, 51. 

Plymouth Rock, 51. 

Pocahontas, story of, 46. 

Poe, Edgar Allan, 304. 

Polk, James Knox, 282-284. 

Polo, Marco, adventures of, 2. 

Ponce de Leon, touches Florida, 14. 

Pontiac's War, 99, 100. 

Poor Richard's Almanac, 112. 

Poor whites, in colonial times, 115. 

Pope, General, 337, 342, 344. 

Population, 104, 197. 

Port Hudson, surrenders, 349. 

Port Royal, Nova Scotia, 29. 

Portland, Me., burned, 143. 

Porto Rico, 388, 389, 391. 

Portsmouth, N.H., settled, 59. 

Portsmouth, R.I., settled, 58. 



Portugal, ventures in America, 12, 13; 
Portuguese reach East Indies, 15. 

Postage, reduced, 377. 

Powhatan, 46. 

Praying Indians, 63. 

President, powers and duties, Appen- 
dix 5-7 ; election of. Appendix 11. 

Presidential Succession Bill, 379. 

Prescott, Colonel AVilliam, 141. 

Princeton, battle of, 163. 

Proctor, General, defeated, 234. 

Prophet, the, Indian, 229. 

Protection, see Tarifif. 

Providence, Md., 78. 

Providence, R.I., settled, 58. 

Public lands, 182; Homestead Bill, 
346 ; grants of, 368. 

Pueblo Indians, 19. 

Pulaski, joins Continental army, 155. 

Pure Food Act, 400. 

Puritans, in England, 52, 61 ; in New 
England, 53-59; in Maryland, 78. 

Putnam, General Israel, 141, 160. 

Putnam, General Rufus, 218, 219. 

Quakers, 70. See also Friends. 
Quebec, founded, 29; picture, 89; 

taken by English, 97-99; Arnold's 

retreat from, 144. 
Queenstown Heights, attack on, 232. 
Quilting bee, definition, 103. 
Quincy, Mass., first railroad at, 253. 

Railroads, growth, 253, 299, 394; con- 
trol of, 399. 
Raleigh, Sir Walter, 42, 43. 
Randolph, Edmund, 190. 
Rank, early distinctions of, 106, 107. 
Reaping machine, 301. 
Reclamation fund, 399. 
Reconstruction period, 3.59-368. 
Religion, in United States, 201. 
Religious toleration in Maryland, 77, 

78. 
Republican ( An ti- Federalist) party, 

favors French Revolution, 210. 
Republican party, nominates Fremont, 

314; nominates Lincoln, 316; favors 

gold standard, 386. 
Resaca de la Palma, battle of, 284. 
Resumption of specie payments, 374. 
Revere, Paul, ride of, 136. 
Revolution, American, 121-179. 
Rhode Island, colonial history, 58, 61 ; 

declares independence of crown, 148 ; 

slow to ratify Constitution, 188. 
Rice, 84. 
Richmond, seat of Confederacy, 327; 

capture of, 354, 355. 
Rio Grande, boundary, 284, 286. 



26 



INDEX 



Rittenhouse, David, astronomer, 114. 

Roanoke Island, 42. 

Robertson, John, pioneer, 204. 

Rochanibeau, 17(5. 

Rodgers, Commodore John, 233. 

Rogers, Major Robert, 100. 

Rolfe, John, marries Pocahontas, 46. 

Roosevelt, Theodore, elected V^ice 

President, 395; President, 396, 399; 

portrait, 398. 
Rosecrans, General, 349. 
Royalists, in Virginia, 80. 
Rural free delivery, 377. 
Rush, Dr. Benjamin, 114. 
Rush, Richard, 247. 
Russia, claim on Pacific coast, 247; 

sells Alaska, 365. 

Sabine River, boundary, 246, 278. 

Saco, Maine, founded, 59. 

Sailors, enslaved by Barbary pirates, 
224, 225 ; impressment of, by Eng- 
land, 226, 227, 229, 239. 

St. Augustine, 16. 

St. Clair, Arthur, Indians defeat, 212. 

St. Lawrence River, 28, 104. 

St. Leger, Colonel, 165. 

St. Louis, growth of, 263, 290. 

St. Mary's, Md., 77. 

Salem, Mass., founded, 53. 

Samoa, treaty regarding, 390. 

Sampson, Admiral W. F., 388. 

San Francisco, early days of, 292. 

Santa Anna, 285. 

Santa Maria, caravel of Columbus, 6. 

Saratoga, surrender at, 1(57. 

Sargasso Sea, xiv; Columbus in, 7, 8. 

Savannah, founded, 85; in Revolu- 
tion, 171, 178 ; Sherman enters, 353. 

Savannah, steamer, 253. 

Say and Sele, Lord, 56. 

Say brook, Conn., planted, 56. 

Scandinavia, emigration from, 300. 

Schenectady, destroyed, 1K3. 

Schofield, General John M., 353. 

Schools, in Massachusetts, 55; slow 
growth of public, 201 ; portion of 
each Western township reserved for 
benefit of, 219. 

Schurman, Jacob G., 392, 393. 

Schuyler, General Philip, 1()5, 167. 

Schuylkill, meaning of word, 69. 

Scotch, settle in South Carolina, 84. 

Scotch-Irish, in the West, 202. 

Scott, Dred, 324. 

Scott, General Winfield, in W^ar of 
1812, 232,236; Mexican campaign, 
285, 286; candidate of Whigs, 310; 
retires from command, 330. 

Sea of Darkness, 6. 



Seamen, see Sailors. 

Search, right of, 211, 212, 229. 

Secession of South, 318, 319 ; question 
of, settled, 360. 

Sedition Act, 215. 

Seminole Indians, 244, 381. 

Semmes, Captain of the Alabama, 352. 

Separatists, 48-51. 

Serapis, ship, 173. 

Serpent Mound, in Loudon, Ohio, 19. 

Servants, indented, 79. 

Seven Years' War, 95, 96, 122. 

Sevier, John, pioneer, 205. 

Seward, William H., 322, 356. 

Shafter, General, 388. 

Shaw, Colonel Robert G., 347. 

Shays's Rebellion, 185. 

Shenandoah Valley, in Civil War, 342, 
351, 352, 3.54. 

Sheridan, General, 351, 352, 354. 

Sherman, General, 350, 353, 354. 

Sherman family, in Ohio, 219. 

Shiloh, battle of, 335, 336. 

Silver, free coinage of, 386. 

Simms, William Gilmore, 308. 

Sioux War, 372, 373. 

Sitting Bull, 373. 

Six Nations, 23 ; at Albany Congress, 
92; do not join Pontiac, 100; Fort 
Stanwix treaty with, 203. 

Slater, Samuel, 200. 

Slave trade, 258, 259. 

Slavery, in Virginia, 79, 114; in South 
Carolina, 83, 84, 114; effect of, 115; 
excluded from Northwest Territory, 
183; becomes a national question, 
256; growth of system, 258-261; 
Missouri Compromise, 262, 263; 
abolitionists attack, 279, 280; Com- 
promise of 1850, 294, 295 ; Kansas- 
Nebraska contest, 310-313; Fre- 
mont's proclamation against, 3.32; 
Lincoln's Emancipation Proclama- 
tion, 347 ; abolished, 361. 

Slaves, number in colonies, 104; not 
persons according to Supreme Court, 
314 ; declared " contraband of war," 
332. 

Smith, Captain John, 46, 47, 50. 

Smith, Joseph, 293. 

Smuggling in colonies, 122. 

Social equality of frontier, 207. 

Social rank, early, 106, 107. 

Socialist party, 399. 

Sons of Liberty, 127. 

Soto, Ferdinand de, 15, 16. 

South, the, colonial life in, 114; 
slavery in, 115, 259-261 ; favors State 
sovereignty, 265, 267; wants lower 
tariff, 272; nullification doctrine in, 



27 



INDEX 



274; wants expansion of slave terri- 
tory, 313 ; secession, 318-320; at- 
tempt to pacify, 322; reconstruction, 
3G1, 303; again represented in Con- 
gress, 364; Federal troops with- 
drawn from, 374. See also 
Confederate States. 

South America, explored, 12, 14, 15; 
republics set up in, 246. 

South Bend, Ind., settled, 219. 

South Carolina, settled, 83, 84 ; colonial 
slavery in, 114; first to adopt a con- 
stitution, 148; tariff dispute, 274; 
passes Ordinance of Secession, 319; 
demands surrender of Fort Sumter, 
321. 

South Dakota, added to Union, 383. 

South Sea, Pacific Ocean called, 46. 

Southampton, Earl of, 44, 

Southwestern Territory, 204, 205. 

Spain, conquers Moors, 5; agreement 
with Columbus, 6 ; " Line of Demar- 
cation," 13; conquests in America, 
15, 16; Spaniards intermarry with 
Indians, 17 ; wars with England, 62; 
Louisiana made over to, 99; opposes 
extension of United States, 171; 
claims control of Mississippi, 184; 
Pinckney's treaty with, 220; cedes 
Louisiana to France, 220; claims 
west coast of North America, 243, 
289; cedes Florida to United States, 
246; loses American provinces, 246 ; 
Holy.Alliance proposes to aid, 247 ; 
mismanages Cuba, 386, 387; dis- 
possessed of possessions in West 
Indies and East Indies, 388-390. 

Specie circular, issued by Jackson, 
275. 

Specie payment, riusjpended, 346, 347 ; 
resumed, 374. 

Spoils system, under Jackson, 271. 

Squaws, 22. 

Stages, early, 117. 

Stamp Act, 124-128. 

Staiidish, Captain Miles, 51. 

Stanton, Edwin M., removed, 364. 

Star of the West, steamer, 321. 

" Star-Spangled Banner," 237. 

Stark, General John, 165. 

Starved Rock, in Illinois River, 33. 

State banks, 275, 346. 

State rights, doctrine of, 215, 216. 

State sovereignty, 265-267; debated 
by Webster and Hayne, 271, 272. 

States, colonies form into, 174 ; con- 
stitutions of, 148, 153. 

Steamboat, invented by Fulton, 253. 

Stephens, Alexander H., 320. 

Steuben, Baron, 155, 170. 



Stevenson, Robert Louis, 390. 

Stockade, 60. 

Stone, William, Governor, 78. 

Stony Point, captured by Wayne, 172. 

Stowe, Harriet Beecher, 308. 

Stuyvesant, Peter, 63. 

Subtreasury system, 276. 

Sullivan, 160, 171. 

Sumter, General, 173. 

Supreme Court, 191, 192. 

Sutter, Colonel, 292. 

Symmes, John Cleves, 219. 

Taft, William, 393, 400. 

Taney, Roger B., 314. 

Tariff, protective, definition of, 249 ; 
tariff of 1816, 250, 251; favored by 
Whigs, 270; enriches North at ex- 
pense of South, 272; South Carolina 
opposes, 274; forbiddenby Confeder- 
ate constitution, 320; tariff of 1861, 
322 ; of 1890, 383 ; of 1897, 394. 

Tarleton, Banastre, 175. 

Taxation, self-imposed by colonists, 
120; Patrick Henry on, 126 ; of tea, 
opposed, 132, 134 ; Hamilton's plan 
for, 194. See also Duties ; Tariff. 

Taylor, Zachary, 284-287 ; wishes to 
have California admitted, 294. 

Tea, taxation of, 132-134. 

Tecumseh, 229, 234. 

Telegraph, electric, invented, 298. 

Telephoue, first exhibited, 370, 372. 

Tennessee, organization of, 205; in 
Civil War, 326, 334. 

Tennessee, iron-clad, 352. 

Tenure of Ofiice Act, 362, 364. 

Territories, slavery in, 2(52-265, 295, 
310-313. 

Texas, part of Mexico, 278 ; becomes 
independent, 27i) ; annexation, 279, 
283 ; money grant to, 294, 295. 

Thames, battle of the, 234. 

Thirteen Colonies, see English Colo- 
nies. 

Thomas, General George H., 35.3. 

Ticonderoga, in French and Indian 
Avar, 96, 97 ; in Revolution, 164, 165. 

Tilden, Samuel J.. 373. 

Tippecanoe, battle of, 229. 

Titusville, Pa., petroleum at, 367. 

Tobacco, 48, 78-81. 

Topeka Constitution, 312. 

Toscanelli, 3, 4, 7. 

Tories, 269 ; see Loyalists. 

Tory party in England, 120. 

Town meetings, i07. 

Townshend, Charles, 130. 

Townships, Western, 219. 

Trade, restriction on colonial, 121. 



28 



INDEX 



Treasury notes, 347. 

Treaty Elm, 75. 

Trent affair. oo3. 

Trenton, N.J., victory at, 163. 

Tripoli, war with, 225. 

Troops, quartering of, 130. 

Trusts, growth of, 394. 

Turks, cut off commerce with Asia, 2. 

Tuskegee, Ala., 3()3. 

Tutuila, acquired, 391. 

Twiggs, Geueral, 320. 

Tyler, John, 281, 282, 322. 

Uncle Tom's Cabin, effect of, 308. 

Union, plans for, among colonies, 118, 
119; change from Confederation to, 
188. 

United Colonies of New England, 61. 

United States, declare independence, 
149; name given to Confederation, 
153; independence of, recognized by 
England, 178; powers delegated to, 
by Constitution, 188; early indus- 
tries, 197-200 ; educationand religion, 
200, 201 ; frontier, 202, 203 ; pioneers, 
206; social life, 207; dependence 
at first upon Europe, 209; keeps 
free from European affairs, 210, 
211 ; independence of, established 
by treaty of Ghent, 2;>9; becomes 
less dependent on Europe, 241 ; 
dealings with Indians, 243; asserts 
the Monroe Doctrine, 247; inventive 
spirit in, 249; rise of manufactures 
in, 250; sends relief to Irish famine, 
300 ; in world politics, 377, 384. 

United States, frigate, 233. 

United States Bank, created, 194; 
new charter given to, 252; favored 
by Whigs, 271; Jackson hostile to, 
274 ; fails to renew charter, 275. 

United States Christian Commission, 
330. 

United States Sanitary Commission, 
330. 

Utah, part of Mexican cession, 286; 
Mormons settle in, 293; question of 
slavery in, 295; growth of, 365; 
polygamy abolished in, 376; ad- 
mitted as a State, 384. 

Valley Forge, sufferings at, 169. 170. 

Van Buren, Martin, 275, 276, 282. 

Vasco da Gama, 2. 

Venezuela, boundary arbitration, 384. 

Vera Cruz, established by Cortez, 15 : 
captured, 285. 

Veragua, Duke of, 12. 

Vermont, sparsely settled, 109; be- 
comes a State, 195. 



Verrazano, voyage to America, 27. 

Vespucci, Amerigo, 12, 13. 

Veto, Presiileutial, 361. 

Vicksburg, surrenders to Grant, 349. 

Victoria, Queen, checks English hos- 
tility to the Union, 334. 

Virginia, named, 42; lost colony of, 
43 ; Jamestown settled, 44, 45 ; trials 
of colonists, 45, 46 ; gold-hunting in, 
46; English poor sent, to, 48; new 
charter, 48; tobacco a source of 
wealth to, 48; does not welcome 
George Calvert, 76; government, 
79; life in, 79; tobacco growing, 79, 
80; royalists in, 80, 81; Bacon's 
rebellion, 81; growth, 81, 82; co- 
lonial commerce and slavery, 114; 
action against Stamp Act, 124, 126; 
most populous State in first census, 
197; abolishes religious tests, 201; 
erects county within present Ken- 
tucky, 204; hangs John Brown, 315; 
calls Peace Conference, 322; West 
Virginia breaks from, 326; becomes 
chief battle ground of war for the 
Union, 327. 

Virginia Company, 44. 

Virginia Resolutions, 216. 

Wake Island, occupied, 391. 

Walker, William, in Nicaragua, 313. 

War for Independence, 158-179. 

War for the Union, 32i)-:357 ; cost of, 
359. See also Confederate States. 

War of 1812, 226-239 ; ends long period 
of warfare, 241 ; stimulates home 
manufacture, 250. 

Ward, General Artemas, 138. 

Warren, General Joseph, 142. 

Washington, Booker T., 363. 

Washington, George, surveys for Ohio 
Company, 92; reports French en- 
croachments, 92; with Braddock, 
93; portrait, 102; elected com- 
mander-in-chief of army, 140 ; takes 
command, 142; adopts tlag for ■ 
army, 145 ; prepares to defend New 
York, 147; refuses conditions of 
peace, 1(50 ; retreats from New 
York, 160, 161; wins at Trenton 
and Princeton, 163; defeated at 
Brandy wine, 166 ; Conway Cabal 
against, 169; at Monmouth Court 
House, 170; goes to White Plains, 
170; entraps Cornwallis, 176, 177; 
takes farewell of army, 178; pre- 
vents trouble in army from arrears 
of payment, 182; in Constitutional 
Convention, 185; chosen President, 
190; proclaims neutrality, 210; 



29 



INDEX 



sends Jay to England, 211 ; signs 
.Jay's treaty, 212; indignant at 
St. Clair's defeat, 212; retires to 
Mt. Vernon, 213; Farewell Address, 
214; called from his retirement, 
215; death, 216. 

Washington, D.C., made seat of gov- 
ernment, 210 ; burning of, 23(3, 237 ; 
capitol at, extended, 297 ; Peace Con- 
ference at, 322; grand review at, 
after war for the Union, 357 ; treaty 
of, 366, 367. 

Washington, State, admitted, 383. 

Washington Elm, 112. 

Watauga Association, 205. 

Wayne, General Anthony, 172, 212. 

Webster, Daniel, tribute to John Jay, 
187; defends the Union, 272; sketch, 
272; portrait, 273; helps establish 
northeastern boundary, 289; sup- 
ports Compromise of 1850, 295. 

Webster, Noah, 201. 

Welcome, Penn's vessel, 74. 

Wesleys, the, visit Georgia, 85. 

West, the, frontier development of, 
172; beginnings of, 185; emigration 
towards, 218," 255, 256 ; irrigation 
scheme, 399. 

West India Company, purposes of, 
36. 

West Indies, name, 11. 

West Point, Arnold's plot, 174. 

West Virginia, opposed to secession, 
326 ; admitted to Union, 365. 

Western Reserve, 218, 219. 

Wethersfield, Conn., settled, 56. 

Whig party, in England, 120 ; in United 
States, origin of name, 2(59; favors 
protective tariff, 270 ; opposes annex- 
ation of Texas, 279; quarrel with 
Tyler, 283 ; General Scott last can- 
didate of, 310. 

Whisky rebellion, 212, 213. 



White, John, 43. 

White Plains, battle of, 161. 

Whitefield, George, in Georgia, 85. 

Whitney, Eli, 199. 

Whittier, John Greenleaf , 308, 279. 

Wigwams, 22. 

Wilderness, battle of the, 350. 

Wilkes, Captain Charles, explo- 
rations, 299; seizes Mason and 
Slidell, 333. 

William and Mary, come to throne, 65. 

Williams, Roger, 58. 

Williamsburg, Va., battle at, 340. 

Willing, Charles, 182. 

Wilmot proviso, 286, 287. 

Winchester, battle of, 352. 

Windsor, Conn., 36. 

Winslow, Commodore, 352. 

Winthrop, John, governor of Connect- 
icut, plants Saybrook, 56. 

Winthrop, John," governor of Massa- 
chusetts, 53; portrait, 54. 

Wisconsin, added to Union, 288. 

Wisconsin River, descended by Joliet, 
31. 

Wolfe, General James, 97-99. 

Wood, General Leonard, 393. 

World's Columbian Exposition, 383. 

Writs of Assistance, 122, 123, 130. 

Wyoming, part of, in Mexican cession, 
286 ; added to Union, 383. 

XYZ affair, 215. 

Yale College, 107, 109. 

York, Duke of, colonial proprietor, 62, 

72; reigns as James II., 64, ()5. 
Yorktown, Cornwallis at, 176, 177; 

McClellan lays siege to, 340. 
Young, Brigham, 293, 295. 
Yucatan, 15; ruins in, 20. 

Zuui Indians, 16. 



:imi9 1907 



